Citu-backed union against 'cashless' tea gardens

GUWAHATI: The CITU-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Chah Mazdoor Sangha (Assam) on Friday vehemently opposed the state government's initiative to popularize digital banking in tea gardens of the state. The union alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a cashless economy would push the tea gardens into further chaos.
The union added that the Sonowal government's move to pay workers' wages in individual bank accounts had triggered a huge crisis in the gardens.In many tea gardens in northern Assam, the authorities had been distributing the new Rs 2,000 notes among the workers, leading to a rush for change, it added.
"Tea garden workers get wages in cash once in a week. With this money, they buy essential commodities. After demonetisation, managers of many gardens are not paying full wages citing currency crisis. Simultaneously, local administrations are pressurizing tea garden managements to stop wage payment in cash. The workers are caught between the two," said general secretary of the union Dinesh Nayak.
The state government had earlier said all tea garden workers would get their wages in bank accounts after December 5, and that banks would come up in every tea garden of the state.
"When the workers are not literate enough to open a bank account, how can the government expect them to use ATMs to withdraw their money?" activist and union secretary Royal Soren wondered. "Rs 2,000 notes have added to their misery as no one is ready to give change," he added.
The union also urged the state government to refrain from making ATM cards mandatory for all garden workers because of illiteracy, especially among elderly workers.
"The government must instruct the concerned authorities to continue with cash transactions in tea gardens until banking facility is introduced in each garden of Assam," he said.
"Since workers are illiterate, they will have to take the help of other persons to withdraw money or operate ATMs. This will lead to misappropriation of their hard-earned money," Soren said.