by Bhupen Goswami

 GUWAHATI :Ahead of assembly elections in Assam, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday distributed a total of Rs 224 crore and 3,000 to 7.47 lakh tea plantation workers in Assam. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitar said on Saturday that the Union government is committed to the welfare of the tea tribe community of Assam. Sitaram said this while addressing the Tea Garden Money Awards Mela (CBDPM) held at Dhanapara in Guwahati on Saturday.

Union Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman participated in the third phase of chah garden Dhan Puraskar Mela in Guwahati and said that Rs 3,000 will be deposited in the account of government tea plantation workers. In this event, the Assam government has disbursed financial assistance of Rs. 3,000 to about 7.5 lakh people belonging to tea plantation areas. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Rameshwar Telli and State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also attended the event. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Telli said that the Centre and the Assam Government are taking various steps for the welfare of the people of tea fields in Assam. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were also present on the occasion.

Each of the 7,46,667 beneficiaries received financial assistance of Rs. 3000 under the Assam Government’s Tea Garden Money Certificate Mela scheme. The Union finance minister arrived in Guwahati from New Delhi on Saturday morning. The Union minister said that Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Lok Sabha MP Pallab Bodies Das are requesting them to implement the scheme for the welfare of the tea tribe community of the state. “The tea tribe community now has access to various central government schemes. The government has also facilitated opening of bank accounts for them. Nirmala Sitar said. He said that bank employees have helped the bank tribe people to open bank accounts during the Kovid-19 epidemic. Comparing the areas of tea gardens in Assam with Mumbai, the Union minister said that most of the facilities in the metropolitan city are now available in tea gardens.

Union Finance Minister Sitaram said that the tea gardens in Assam can be compared with Mumbai as the tea gardens are now available to various modern facilities like banking and ATM facilities, mobile phones for better connectivity and many other facilities. However, assembly elections are proposed in the state in March-April. The state Government had deposited Rs. 2,500 in tea accounts of tea estate workers in the years 2017-18 and 2018-2019 under the scheme but it was discontinued in the last financial year and the scheme was not implemented in 2019-20 due to unknown reasons.