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| Chief minister Tarun Gogoi |
Guwahati, Dec. 21: Dispur today agreed to meet a host of long-pending demands of the tea community, including raising the number of reserved seats in medical and engineering colleges and a new legislation to adequately compensate members affected by land acquisition drives for government projects.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi made the assurances to a high-level delegation of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc) at a meeting convened in the Central Hall of the Assembly when the session was in progress.
Five ministers, including health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, power and industry minister Pradyut Bordoloi, revenue minister Prithibi Majhi and excise and sports minister Ajit Singh, besides chief secretary N.K. Das, senior bureaucrats and over 10 MLAs participated in the hourlong meeting.
It indicated, among other things, the clout the community enjoys in the government and political circles, more so after the ruling Congress’s near-sweep in tea-dominated areas of the state in April Assembly polls.
The ACMS president and Deputy Speaker Bhimananda Tanti and its secretary Dileswar Tanti were present at the meeting.
Sources privy to the meeting said the government has decided to reserve two seats in medical and engineering colleges, 50 seats in nursing schools; allot land pattas to community members in surplus ceiling land; review the Plantation Labour Act, sell Assam Tea Corporation Limited gardens if buyers inherit the liabilities and install individual electricity metres instead of cluster metering.
“However, assurances to increase the number of seats in educational institutes and deciding to bring a legislation to compensate garden workers is really significant. Till now, only garden management used to get compensation after land acquisition while its workers faced an uncertain future. This will hopefully change now,” a source said.
Sports minister Ajit Singh and first-time MLA Pallav Lochan Das told The Telegraph that the government was “very positive” towards resolving the problems of the tea community.
The ACMS submitted in a memorandum to the chief minister on December 13 to discuss the “burning and pending” issues confronting the community, including power supply to workers’ quarters and land acquisition for projects resulting in shrinking tea garden areas, eventually leading to unemployment.
It also demanded land patta to tea workers living as tenants on ceiling surplus land, reservation of seats in institutes of higher education.
Dileswar Tanti signed off the letter with a request to the chief minister to ensure the presence of all ministers and departmental officials concerned in the meeting for a “fruitful” discussion.
Gogoi did not disappoint them. The turnout was quite impressive, attracting more attention than the proceedings inside the House.
The government had no choice given the disquiet within the community over denial of nomination to one of its senior leaders to the Rajya Sabha seat which eventually went to Pankaj Bora, ACMS sources said.