Tea garden owners asked to pay Puja bonus upto 20% by Sep 20

Dibrugarh: With barely a month left for Durga Puja, the Dibrugarh district administration has asked tea garden owners to pay puja bonus to plantation workers by September 20.

The tea planters were also asked to announce the "quantum" of puja bonus before September 5 during a tripartite meeting on Wednesday evening (Aug 28) that was chaired by additional deputy commissioner Sanjay Dutta. Representatives of the Assam Branch Indian Tea Association (ABITA), Assam Tea Planters Association (ATPA), Tea Association of India (TAI), Bharatiya Chah Parishad (BCP) and North-Eastern Tea Association (NETA), Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) and Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA). The tea industry was urged to transfer the bonus amount directly to the bank accounts of the workers instead of the old method of cash payment. This year Durga puja begins on October 4.

Under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 the minimum bonus payable is 8.33% while the maximum stands at 20%. All permanent and temporary workers who have worked for a minimum period of 30 days are entitled to the benefit.

"We have asked the tea garden owners to announce the percentage of puja bonus before September 5. They have also been asked to make the bonus payment by September 20 so that the workers get enough time to make their puja purchases. We want the whole bonus payment procedure to be without any issue," said Dibrugarh Assistant Labour Commissioner Kanpai Das on Thursday.

Significantly, Dibrugarh district has the highest number of registered tea estates in Assam. Out of the total 803 registered tea estates in the state, Dibrugarh tops the list with 177 tea estates, followed by Tinsukia (122), Jorhat (88), Sivasagar (85) and Golaghat (74).

Former Union DoNER minister Paban Singh Ghatowar and president of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha addressing a press meet in Dibrugarh on Thursday urged the tea industry to pay the highest rate of bonus (20%) to tea garden workers this year. His appeal came in the backdrop of the recent announcement by the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA) that the tea industry may not be able to pay more other than the minimum 8.33 percent stipulated under The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 due to ongoing recession in the tea industry.

"We urge the tea industry to pay the maximum 20% puja bonus to the workers. The garden workers are already lowly-paid by the gardens. They deserve the highest rate of bonus which is paid once in a year during Durga puja. It is a sensitive issue for the workers and anything less than 20% bonus may result in dissent among workers leading to serious law and order situation," Ghatowar on Thursday said.

Last year, tea industry leaders like Goodricke, Mcleod Russel, Andrew Yule, James Warren, Grob, Dhunsiri, Stuart Holl,

MK Shah Exports, Tata (Amalgamated Plantations), Assam Company, Warren, Apeejay and Russel had all paid the maximum rate of bonus to the workers.

Also Read: Less Bonus by Tea Estates Likely: North Eastern Tea Association

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