A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: The Dibrugarh district has become the first district in Assam to find a solution to the decade-long problem of land-related documents for tea and ex-tea garden youths to avail of benefits under schemes like PMEGP and PMFME.
The one crore population of the tea garden and ex-tea garden community of Assam has been relentlessly trying to join the mainstream in the state so far as economic uplift of the community is concerned by availing of benefits under various welfare schemes launched by the State and Central governments from time to time.
The Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) and Prime Minister’s Formalization Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) are two such flagship schemes of the Government of India that mainly focus on self-employment generation through the setting up of ventures like micro industrial enterprises, business ventures, and livestock farming of pigs, poultry, etc.
Nevertheless, the progress has not been a rapid and accentuated one. One reason for this lacklustre progress is the lack of land documents for these youths, as most of them are residing on Tea Plantation (TP) land, which is under the absolute control of the tea companies. Lack of proper land documents prevents the financing banks from processing the loan applications submitted by these youths.
This dismal picture of sluggish progress was brought to the attention of the General Manager, District Industries and Commerce Centre, Dibrugarh, Morgan Meston, by Dhiraj Gowala, president, All Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA), who, after consultation with the Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh, Biswajit Pegu, decided to convene a meeting with all the stakeholders to find a solution to this long-pending issue.
Accordingly, a meeting will be chaired by the Deputy Commissioner, Dibrugarh, on December 12, 2022, in the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh in the presence of the president, ATTSA, Dhiraj Gowala, the secretary of the Tea Association of India, Ranjan Paul, representative of the Assam Branch of the Indian Tea Association (ABITA), representative of the Assam Chah Karmachari Parishad (ACMS), Lead District Manager (LDM) Mayank Agarwal, and bank managers of the Dibrugarh district will attend.
For a broad-based discussion on the topic, a follow-up meeting with more stakeholders is needed, like the secretary of Bharatiya Chah Parishad (BCP), Doli Sharma Kalita, the secretary of the North East Tea Association (NETA), and Manisha Sharma, the representative of Assam Chah Karmachari Parishad (ACMS). General Manager, Satya Narayan Tea Company, Dibrugarh, Mrinal Gogoi, was also held on February 14, 2023. After, a thorough deliberation on the issue, the Committee unanimously resolved that the tea garden management will issue an NOC or licence to the applicants, the model format of which will be prepared by the District Industries and Commerce Centre, Dibrugarh, after collating inputs from all the stakeholder groups.
"This NOC/License so issued for a specific period with a concomitant minimum rental per annum will be accepted by the financing banks as proof of land documents for processing PMEGP and PMFME applications of the tea and ex-tea garden youths," stated a press release.
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