Jorhat, Aug. 26: The Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association (Abita) has requested the largest and oldest tea workers' union in the state - the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) - to consider payment of bonus to workers in two instalments.
Tea industry sources said Abita is the oldest and largest tea growers' association among the five such bodies in the state with over 270 tea gardens, most of which are owned by well-known companies.
The Abita gardens are spread across 15 districts, produces about 230 million kg of made tea (according to 2013 statistics) covering an area of 1,34,474 hectares.
There are altogether over 800 organised and registered tea estates in Assam, according to the government records. About five lakh permanent workers and two lakh temporary labourers are employed in these estates, with total plantation area estimated at 312,210 hectares in the organised sector.
Abita secretary S. Ghosh, in a letter from its Guwahati office on August 20 to the ACMS general secretary Dileshwar Tanti, has sought the union's approval in paying bonus to the workers of Abita's member-gardens in two instalments. The letter reached ACMS office in Dibrugarh in Upper Assam today.
The letter is in response to Tanti writing earlier this month to all the five major tea growers' associations of Assam for bonus at the rate of 20 per cent to be declared and paid to workers three weeks before Durga Puja, which begins on October 7.
Tanti had demanded that the individual gardens and companies pay the bonus at one go rather than splitting it in two instalments, a method which a section of individual gardens and companies were employing in the past few years. The second instalment was paid in January next year or before Holi, which generally falls in March.
Ghosh said some companies might pay bonus in one instalment but some would find it difficult because of the "poor cash flow".
"We trust your union will extend full co-operation and assistance to such gardens/companies in this regard. We also request you to sensitise your branches and workers in general on the current tea industry scenario in order to address the rising cost of inputs in the industry," Ghosh said in his letter.
The secretary added that some Abita gardens might not have finished computation and finalised the accounts of the previous fiscal year, the period of which the bonus is paid to the workers.
Ghosh said such gardens should be allowed to pay an advance payment and the due amount in second instalment after working out the profits of the last fiscal after Puja.
Tanti, a former minister in a Congress government, said the union would be considering the request from Abita provided that they pay 15 per cent bonus to the workers in the first instalment and rest 5 per cent in January or before Holi.
The ACMS leader said the quantum of bonus should not be less than the maximum rate of 20 per cent.
Payment of bonus to industrial employees is mandatory under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.
Under the act, employees earning up to Rs 10,000 (now up to Rs 21,000 after an amendment by the Centre last year) per month have to be paid bonus at a minimum rate of 8.33 per cent and a maximum of 20 per cent on the basis of the employers' earnings the previous fiscal.
