GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday expressed gratitude to the Centre for its decisions to provide special assistance to the state for flood management and implement the Pradhan Mantri Cha Shramik Protsahan Yojana (PMCSPY).Delivering her budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre would assist Assam for flood management and related projects.Sarma said the special assistance from the Centre would help meet the challenges posed by floods in Assam. For the past many decades, Assam has been grappling with the flood problem. The demand to declare the floods in the state as a “national problem” is longstanding. The two waves of the floods this year claimed the lives of 97 people. Parts of the state are still reeling under it.Sarma expressed joy that the budget made a provision to implement PMCSPY. He said the allocation of Rs 1,000 crore under this scheme would go a long way in providing various welfare opportunities to Assam’s tea garden community. Taking to X, he wrote, “My gratitude to the Government led by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji for this unique scheme that will greatly benefit our brothers and sisters, who form the backbone of Assam’s tea industry.”Meanwhile, the Tea Association of India lauded the Centre for PMCSPY which has been devised for the welfare of tea workers and their families in Assam and West Bengal.“The scheme is aimed at making need-based interventions in tea garden areas for strengthening provisions of education and health services,” the tea body said in a statement.The scheme will be implemented during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years.“Different skilling programmes along with schemes for skilling loan with guarantee from government promoted fund and educational loan will help create efficient workforce. The tea industry will also be benefitted from the same,” the statement said.Stating that development of digital and banking infrastructure in the tea-growing regions has been a constant demand of the tea industry for several years, the statement added that the announcement of “bank branches in the Northeast” was a positive step towards this direction.
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