GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal said the state government has adopted several innovative measures for ensuring social and economic security of the tea
garden community.
Sonowal said this while attending the state level Karam Sanmillan organised for the first time by the central committee of Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) at the District Sports Association playground in Jorhat on Sunday.
Appreciating the role of the tea tribes in building the economy of the state, the chief minister said that the community is an integral part of Assamese society and has set a new benchmark for Assam tea in the world by sheer grit and hard work.
He further said the state government was unleashing efforts to solve the nagging issues of the tea gardens of the state and taking up steps for carrying forward the development process.
Sonowal also called upon ATTSA to play a more proactive role in giving a new impetus to government initiatives as well as to developing scientific outlook among the tea tribe community against superstitions and other social evils.
Health minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma in his speech, said the state
government would launch an ambitious scheme to reduce maternal mortality in the tea garden areas. He further said that the government made budgetary allocation for addressing malnutrition among pregnant women and capacity building of ASHAs for ensuring successful implementation of the proposed scheme.
He moreover informed that the state government allocated Rs 800 crore for
improvement of roads in the tea gardens, and from November 1 onwards, Rs 1 crore in each garden would be spent for road improvement work.
He also said that the state government already released Rs 100 crore for meeting the requirements of retired
employees of Assam Tea Corporation gardens, besides transfer of Rs 2500 in December this year to each tea garden worker who opened bank accounts post demonetisation and continued financial
transactions.
The health minister also informed that the state government decided to
provide Rs 25,000 to tea tribe youths who are interested to venture into entrepreneurship apart from monthly scholarship to 500 girls from tea garden areas for pursuing ANM and GNM courses.
