The Assam Tea Plantation Protection Force (ATPPF), formed in 1993 to guard tea gardens, has planned to launch an agitation against the state government and the Indian Tea Association (ITA) if their demands were not met by this March. ATPPF president Sahanur Alam claimed that despite the order by Guwahati High Court in 2001, neither the ITA nor the state government had taken any initiative to revise their pay structure. There is about 3,000 ATPPF staff trained by the Army to guard tea gardens and their managers. Between 1993 and 1996, each staff was paid Rs 30 per day, which was revised to Rs 83 per day in 1996 following an agreement between the government and ITA.

''Since then there has been no revision in our salary structure and it has become very difficult for us to meet the demands of day to day life with rise in the prices of all commodities,'' claimed Mr. Alam. The ATPPF appealed to both the State Government and the ITA to look into their demands, failing which they would resort to agitation, including staging dharna in front of the Assembly.
Assam | North East Enquirer (Headlines) | Nena Home Page |