All over the country, one of the most heated topic of discussion flared on 8th November 2016 when our Prime Minister banned the use of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 denomination. The whole country went into the circle of chaos. From the very next day people started the never ending long queues in front of the banks and the ATMs. People waited for many days to get their money exchanged; people suffered; people died. The lives of every being of the country got affected in one way or the other.
The tea garden workers used to get their salary weekly or fortnightly but since the ban on the high denomination currency the system of payment got into severe chaos. Earlier, the owner of the tea gardens used to withdraw money from their own accounts and pay the workers fortnightly. But due to the ceiling on the daily amount of withdrawal the total amount needed to the workers didn’t suffice. The problem started from there. Then came the consecutive directives from the RBI. But none of those solved the problem properly. Finally came the prescription that all the tea workers have to open their bank accounts and the wage would be delivered there only. This raised so many confusions. From where would the workers withdraw the money? There are no branches of the banks in most of the tea gardens, there are no ATMs either. Shall they remain absent in their jobs to go far to the towns to withdraw the money? The workers are not used to operate ATMs. Then isn’t there a possibility that a section of touts might develop in the name of executing this job? The only feasible solution is that workers should be paid regular payments in their respective gardens. The arrangement should be sorted out jointly by the management, administration and the bankers.
The entire tea garden workers are still facing the problem as the arrangement is yet to be implemented fully. At this very moment the time limit for the implementation has been extended for the period of another two fortnightly payments. We have to wait to see whether the problem gets sorted out properly.
