Sitharaman hands over aid to 7.46L tea garden workers in Assam

Guwahati, Feb 6 : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday distributed Rs 3,000 each to 7,46,667 tea garden workers in Assam under the ‘Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela’ scheme.
In the third tranche of the scheme, a total amount of Rs 224 crore was disbursed with Rs 3,000 getting transferred directly to 7,46,667 bank accounts of tea garden workers across the state.
The scheme was started by the Assam government in 2017-18 and that year Rs 2,500 each was provided to 6,33,411 tea garden workers, while a similar amount was deposited in 7,15,979 bank accounts the next year.
Speaking on the occasion, Sitharaman said that Assam is known world over for its tea and while people start their mornings with a cup of Assam brew, the labourers who grow them have been neglected for a long time.
She said that since the Narendra Modi-led government assumed office in 2014, various measures have been taken for the upliftment of the tea community, as the Prime Minister has been making sincere efforts to bring changes in the lives of people from sections of the society.
Crediting the bank officials and Assam government employees for completing the task of opening more than eight lakh bank accounts in the tea garden areas after the demonetisation drive initiated by Prime Minister Modi, Sitharaman said the inclusion of the tea plantation workers in the formal banking system has enabled direct transfer of benefits of government schemes to their bank accounts without any middlemen or leakage.