CM announces largesse for tea community

November 23 declared Shramik Kalyan Divas in honour of Santosh Kumar Topno

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Nov 23: Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal has announced a slew of initiatives for uplift of tea community in Assam.

Speaking at a function organised to observe the birth anniversary of eminent leader, social worker and writer Santosh Kumar Topno at Mancotta Tea Estate in Dibrugarh on Wednesday, Sonowal announced that the State government has plans for opening many high schools and higher secondary schools in tea garden areas in the coming days. He emphasised that education is the key with which tea community youths can unlock the doors for a better future.

Sonowal said with an aim of encouraging tea tribe students to aspire for a better career, the government has started coaching programme for 30 meritorious students belonging to the tea community and they are appearing in civil service examitions. He informed the gathering that more such initiatives are in the pipeline for giving a platform to meritorious students of the community.

Further stating that identifying sporting talents from within the community is one of the key focus areas of the government, the Chief Minister said that CM’s Football Cup Tourment has been started with an aim to spot talents from interior tea garden areas. He said the talented footballers will be trained at sports schools to be set up by the government for bringing laurels to the State and country.

Sonowal said that after demonetisation on 8th November 2016, a total of 8 lakh bank accounts were opened by tea garden workers. He also announced that Rs 2,500 will be deposited from the State government in those bank accounts and the process will start from 2nd January, 2018. He added that the move has been undertaken to encourage tea garden workers to get involved in the banking process.

He said skill development centres will be set up at different tea gardens to hone the talents of youths and enhance their employability. He also urged tea estate owners and magements to take advantage of innovation labs to motivate tea industry and improve quality of tea production.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister announced that 23rd November, which coincides with Topno’s birthday, will be observed as Shramik Kalyan Divas every year in recognition of the great role played by the eminent leader, social worker and writer. He said the government will erect statues of Topno and Simon Singh Horo at Chawlkhowa in Dibrugarh district. An auditorium will also be built in memory of Topno at Mancotta Tea Estate.

Sonowal also gave cheques worth Rs 5 lakh each to 11 families of martyrs from the tea community. He also felicitated successful civil service officers, doctors, artists and several other successful people from the community.

Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Tea Tribes Welfare Minister Pallab Lochan Das, MPs Rameswar Teli and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, MLAs Chakra Gogoi, Ritupar Baruah, Prasanta Phukan, Jogen Mohan, Suren Phukan, Sanjay Kisan, Terash Gowalla, Vinod Hazarika and Bimal Bora, Chah Mazdoor Sangha president and former Union Minister Pawan Singh Ghatowar, representatives from tea associations and host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.