Guwahati, Feb 6 (IANS): Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday announced that the state government would increase the minimum wages of tea garden workers in the state within 10 days.

Addressing a function organised to distribute financial assistance of Rs 3,000 each to 7,46,667 tea garden workers by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Sarma said that the proposal to raise the minimum wages of the tea garden workers would be finalised in the next Cabinet meeting.

Sarma said that the state government has spent Rs 1,400 crore for constructing roads in and around the tea gardens and opened many schools for the children of the workers.

He said that the BJP government headed by Chief Minister Sonowal gave Rs 12,000 each to 47,000 pregnant women in the tea estates. Assam has around 800 large tea gardens and 1.18 lakh small tea gardens.

The BJP-led Assam government ahead of the April-May Assembly election has been providing and announcing various sops and financial schemes to various communities and people of different sections of society, including students.

Sitharaman in the same function organised at the Assam Veterinary College playground distributed Rs 3,000 each to 7,46,667 tea garden workers in Assam under the 'Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela' scheme. Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal accused the opposition Congress of neglecting the development of tea growing areas in the state and tea garden workers.