ATTSA warns govt of dire consequences

JORHAT, April 4: The Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA) has warned the state government of dire consequence in the near future for the latter's lackadaisical attitude in regard to initiating schemes for all-round development of the tea tribes and also for reneging on its pledge to 'accord' SC/ST status to the tea tribe community. Lambasting the powers that be for their hollow promises over the years, the association president Durga Bhumij and general secretary Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, in a press release, claimed that despite bilateral discussion on the SC/ST issue at Dispur, the Government had not cared even to adopt a Cabinet decision on the subject and accordingly pressurise the Centre on the long-standing demands of the over 60 lakh tea tribe community. Doubting the 'sense of concern' as also total lack of political will to help the perennially backward tea tribes, the Association said the apathetic attitude not only of the state government and also other so-called people's representatives plainly exposed their total lack of concern towards the pitiable plight of the community. "The Registrar General of India's query to the state government machinery regarding according SC/ST status to the tea tribe community has till date gone unanswered", the duo alleged. Further, Central assistance to suitably amend the outdated Plantation Labour Act, arranging equitable distribution of ceiling surplus land among the landless labourers, measures for overall uplift of the tea tribes, including moves to address educational and healthcare needs have never been solicited by the state government, they added. Having called on the Union Labour, Human Resource Development, Health and Tribal Welfare Ministers, an ATTSA delegation, which recently visited the national capital, urged the Union Government to depute a Central team to assess the tea tribe community's plight in the State, besides demanding a Central education and health policy specifically for the tea tribes. The association also urged the state government to spell out in clear terms its policy for the over 60 lakh strong backward community.