Coronavirus: Assam government distributes 3.40 lakh masks among tea garden workers.

Guwahati, April 24: Sonowal distributed masks among tea garden workers. In the wake of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Assam government has distributed 3.40 lakh three-layer masks among the tea garden laborers in the state.

Sonowal distributed masks among more than 1.13 lakh tea garden workers in 177 tea gardens in the state so far.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday visited Bokpara tea estate in Dibrugarh district and interacted with female workers of the garden who were engaged in plucking tea leaves.

The Assam Chief Minister informed them about the importance of wearing masks at public places and maintaining social distancing in the wake of a worldwide outbreak of novel Coronavirus.

Sonowal appreciated the garden workers for adhering to the lockdown guidelines and maintaining the social distancing norm in the garden and he also distributed masks among tea garden workers.

The Assam Chief Minister said that, the State government made relaxations in the conditions during the second phase of the lockdown as per the central government direction, and accordingly tea gardens were allowed to carry out a certain set of activities while adhering to the government guideline.

Sonowal said that the tea industry in Assam always played an important role in the economic well being of the state and the state government also took several efforts to strengthen the tea sector during the second phase of the lockdown.

Moreover, saying that tea garden management and workers would have to strictly follow the condition of social distancing while carrying out plucking and processing tea leaves, the Assam Chief Minister stated that all deputy commissioners were directed to ensure complete enforcement of the same.

“The Deputy Commissioners were already instructed to form monitoring cells to supervise the implementation of lockdown norms in the gardens and said that adequate steps were taken to safeguard the interests of small tea growers of the state as well. All Deputy Commissioners were instructed to maintain a close watch on equitable distribution of government relief among tea garden workers,” Sonowal said.

He said that, Deputy Commissioners were asked to maintain close coordination with garden management and tea garden sardars for compliance of the same.