The tea market is but to be clear as to how the advantages of the Rs 1,000 crore specific package for the tea estate workers of Assam and West Bengal will be channelised, although they are really confident that the package will boost and strengthen the alignment with the sustainable improvement objectives of the market.
The Indian Tea Association stated that in addition to the current National Health Mission the allocation of Rs 64,180 crore beneath the Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swathya Bharat Yojana and the allocation aggregating Rs 59,000 crore for creating 1,975 km of road infrastructure in Assam and West Bengal will go a extended way in providing the tea market a increase.
The boost in spending budget estimates against the Tea Board schemes from Rs 175 crore to Rs 375 crore will facilitate timely disbursement of subsidies and the ITA has been proactively engaged with the finance and the commerce ministry in enhancing the allocation of funds. But pending difficulties like re-plantations in the gardens and export subsidies obtain no mention, which was substantially needed for the tea market to attain its sustainable objectives. The tea plantation sector is currently beneath acute economic strain for the elevated expense of production.
According to Azam Monem, director, McLeod Russels, tea garden owners spend the workers in each money and sorts-50% of their wage in money and 50% in sorts but the channelisation of Rs 1,000 crore specific package for the welfare of the workers is not incredibly clear. A direct money transfer to the workers could be a possibility due to the fact all the workers have bank accounts at present. But advantages might also come in the type of amenities or possibly channelised by way of the respective state governments or might be transferred to the tea garden owners for disbursing to the tea estate workers.
India has 1,585 tea gardens spread across 13 states with more than 12 lakh workers working on more than 6.36 lakh hectares.
Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy stated the Rs 1,000 crore specific package for tea garden workers is nothing at all but an election stunt. “It is a trifle compared to the state’s Rs 500 crore Cha Sundari scheme meant to provide accommodation for the odd 3.5 lakh workers of 283 tea gardens in the state. While the Centre’s scheme translates to a benefit of around Rs 8,300 per worker, the state’s scheme translates to a benefit of Rs 14,285 per worker,” Roy stated.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee lashed out on the Centre for offering Rs 25,000 crore for the up-gradation of the 675 Kms extended Kolkata- Siliguri highway. She termed it as a fake scheme pointing out to the state’s lately launched pathashree scheme beneath which 12,000 km of the road across the state has been undertaken for repairs. However, the state has announced no allocation for the scheme.
The ITA, even so, stated, due to the fact most of the tea gardens in Assam and West Bengal are positioned in remote far flung areas these gardens endure from numerous transportation bottlenecks. The allocation of Rs 34,000 crore for road infrastructure improvement in Assam and Rs 25,000 crores in West Bengal is anticipated to speed up the improvement of roads and infrastructure thereby facilitating more rapidly communication from tea gardens to location points.
Both Assam and West Bengal are going to the polls quickly.