Guwahati, Nov 28 (PTI) The Assam Assembly on Friday passed an amendment bill which will enable the government to distribute land in tea estates’ labour lines among the workers for housing ownership, amid noisy scenes created by opposition AIUDF demanding land rights in ‘char’ (riverine) areas inhabited mostly by Bengali-speaking Muslims.
The ruling BJP legislators countered the commotion by raising ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and Chief Minister ‘Himanta Biswa Sarma zindabad’ slogans, as AIUDF MLAs trooped into the well of the House with posters and slogans demanding land ‘patta’ in char areas.
The AIUDF also staged a walk-out as the bill was passed by a voice vote.
Earlier, taking part in the discussion on ‘The Assam Fixation of Ceiling of Land Holdings (Amendment) Act, 2025′, Sarma claimed that a historic mistake was being corrected by providing land rights to the workers who have been toiling in tea gardens for the last 200 years, uprooted from their native land and brought here by the British.
He said the demand for land rights in char areas will also be looked into by the government and survey of such areas has been started already.
“The contribution of the tea garden workers to Assamese society over the last 200 years is immense and we are acknowledging it through this,” Sarma said.
He maintained that the British had ‘enslaved’ the workers like in Western countries and these ‘shackles’ have been freed by this amendment bill which will provide them right over their land.
Under the Act, ‘labour lines’ (tea garden labour colonies) will be excluded from the definition of ancillary purpose in tea estates in the original law, which will be bought from the companies by the government and distributed among the incumbent dwellers who are notified tea tribes on status quo basis.
The total number of tea estates in Assam is 825 and the area under labour colonies is around 2,18,553 bighas.
The total amount of compensation to be paid to affected parties tentatively at the rate of Rs 3,000 per bigha will come to around Rs 65.57 crore.
Sarma said there will be a lock period of 20 years for selling the allotted land under the Act, and after that, sell can be made only to other tea tribes of that same tea garden.
“This will ensure that the land will always be protected, similar to those in tribal belts and blocks,” he added.
Elaborating various schemes undertaken for tea workers’ welfare, Sarma also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi working as a tea seller in his early years.
“After Modi ji became the prime minister, he asked us to work for the development of the tea tribes,” he added.
Sarma said the government will also launch a scheme to provide monetary support to the tea workers to construct houses in their allotted land.
He also criticised the Congress for not working for upliftment of the tea community even though they had been a ‘vote bank’ for the party for decades.
He accused the opposition party of safeguarding the interests of the tea company owners rather than the workers through the original Act, which was enacted in 1958 during Congress regime.
On the demand for rights on char land raised by the AIUDF, the CM said a survey of those areas was being done and eligible people will be provided rights in due course.
He asserted that evictions will continue to clear all encroached land and urged the AIUDF MLAs to persuade the illegal settlers, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, to clear out voluntarily.
He also assuaged apprehensions voiced by the opposition party legislators and said that Muslims who had been in Assam prior to 1951 will be treated as ‘indigenous Assamese’ and get due land rights.
Sarma urged the cooperation of the community in detecting illegal migrants, claiming that the instances of foiled attempted infiltration indicate that those coming from across the border get help from people inside the country.
Members of the ruling as well as opposition benches participated in the discussion, with all supporting providing land rights to the tea workers.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Keshab Mahanta, who had moved the bill, maintained that ‘justice’ was being done to the tea tribes after 200 years.
He said over 14 lakh people will be benefited by the Act, with the government committed to acquire the land and redistribute it among the eligible beneficiaries.
The discussion also witnessed some heated exchanges between the chief minister and Independent legislator Akhil Gogoi as both levelled accusations against each other over their past. PTI SSG NN
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