Assam tea body slam 'chaiwala' PM Narendra Modi

The largest tea body of Assam on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi who often refers to himself as a chaiwala for not being considerate towards the states tea garden workers plight and urged him to implement the promised minimum wage of Rs 350 before the new year startsThe Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha ACMS General Secretary Rupesh Gowala said while Modi often refers to himself as a chaiwala he is yet making good on his promises towards a million tea garden labourers in the state in the last four yearsBefore the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 Modi addressed several rallies in Assam and assured that the tea garden labourers would be paid a minimum wage of Rs 350 per day Gowala saidIf this happens the 1000000 tea garden labourers will lose Rs 30 each day for two months Is it a chaiwala Prime Minister who is doing this to his own community said GowalaThe tea garden workers in Brahmaputra Valley in Assam are presently drawing Rs 167 per day while the tea garden workers in Barak Valley are getting Rs 145 per dayThe existing wage agreement between the Assam government and the ACMS and other tea workers bodies expired on December 31 2017The government had announced an interim hike of Rs 30 per day The tea garden labourers are supposed to get this interim hike from January 1 2018 but the government is saying the hike will apply from March 1 2018This would make them lose Rs 30 per day for two months he saidThe Bharatiya Janata Partyled government in Assam is yet to fix that minimum wage Gowala said urging Modi to announce the promised Rs 350 per day minimum wage before 2019Gowala said the condition of all those tea gardens run by the Assam government was far worseWhile the labourers in the companyowned garden are receiving a wage of Rs 167 per day now the 26000 workers under the 14 gardens of stateowned Assam Tea Company Limited ATCL are receiving a wage of Rs 115 only per day he saidAssam has over 800 medium and large size tea gardens that produce over 50 per cent of the countrys total tea productionThe tea labourers of Assam live in the most deplorable conditions without some of the basic amenities Gowala saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever