The members of the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA) reiterating their demand of disbursement of 20 percent bonus ahead of Durga Puja on September 4th, 2019 staged a protest at Upper Assam’s Tingkhong town.
The agitators holding placards, chanting slogans burnt effigies of Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, Indian Tea Association chairman Vivek Goenka and Bidyananda Barkakoti, Adviser to the North Eastern Tea Association.
Voicing their resentment against the Consultative Committee of Plantation Association(CCPA) and the tea garden owners, the protesters said, ‘We are not going to fall for the 8.33 percent bonus conspiracy. Our tea garden labourers should get 20 percent bonus before 20 days of Durga Puja this year,’.
It may be mentioned that the minimum bonus for tea garden workers under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 is 8.33 per cent, the maximum is 20 per cent.
In Golaghat district, the Khumtai tea garden workers and members of the AATSA jointly staged a protest here demanding 20% bonus. The agitators further complained that the tea garden owners have turned a deaf ear to their problems.
Inputs: Rajib Karmakar
