Guwahati, March 2: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today warned tea companies that they should do more for garden labourers or face action.

“I am not generalising, but some companies are not doing enough for their employees for which the government has to chip in. We will continue to help them, but it is the companies which are making profits from the gardens and they should also take care of the welfare of the garden employees,” he said at a function to distribute appointment letters to 60 schoolteachers in the tea garden areas at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra here this evening.

“We will have to take tough action if they don’t mend their ways,” he warned.

The chief minister said tea companies, which have excess land that are not under tea cultivation to diversify so that more employment can be generated. “They can start fisheries and other economic activities, which can generate employment in the areas of their operations.”

He also called upon the companies to go for mechanisation to increase output and also improve quality.

Gogoi pointed out that more emphasis should be laid on skill development while citing plucking as a skilled job. “The labourers can be provided training for improved plucking,” he said.

Speaking at the function, health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government was committed to the welfare of the tea community, but expressed concern over the low rate of literacy among them.

“Literacy rate in the community is worse than that in the char areas,” he said.