Assam Tea Garden Workers' Financial Assistance Scheme (Chah Bagichar Dhan Puraskar Mela and Eti Koli Duti Paat)

What is the Assam tea garden workers' financial assistance scheme?

Assam Tea Garden Workers' Financial Assistance Scheme is the umbrella name for the Government of Assam's direct cash grants to tea garden labourers, delivered through the Labour Welfare Department. Two named rounds matter for readers today: Chah Bagichar Dhan Puraskar Mela, launched in 2017-18, and Mukhya Mantrir Eti Koli Duti Paat, approved by the Assam Cabinet on 10 May 2025 and launched at Doomdooma in Tinsukia district in January 2026.

The current benefit is a one-time payment of Rs 5,000 into the worker's bank account. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma disbursed this amount to over 6 lakh tea garden workers at the launch. The Government of Assam described it as a mark of gratitude for the tea workforce, timed around the 200th year of Assam tea.

The name is Assamese for "one bud and two leaves". The plucking standard that defines quality tea, and workers usually search for the scheme by that transliterated name rather than by any official English title.

Scale of the current round

• 6 lakh-plus permanent and casual workers covered.
• 836 tea gardens across the state.
• 27 districts and 73 assembly constituencies.
• Rs 5,000 paid once per worker.

Alongside the cash payment, the Government of Assam launched mobile creches and mobile toilet services in tea garden areas at the same event, aimed at child care, worker health and dignity.

What was the earlier Chah Bagichar Dhan Puraskar Mela?

Chah Bagichar Dhan Puraskar Mela was launched in 2017-18, and its purpose was as much financial inclusion as cash relief. Large parts of Assam's tea workforce were paid in cash and had never held a bank account. The scheme combined an account-opening drive with a cash award credited into the new account, giving workers a concrete reason to complete the paperwork.

The payment structure differentiated by when the account was opened. Workers who had opened bank accounts before demonetisation received Rs 5,000 as a first instalment and Rs 2,500 as a second instalment. Workers who opened accounts after 8 November 2016 received Rs 2,500. Money was credited directly into the labourers' accounts, and workers were asked to ensure Aadhaar linkage to keep the transfers transparent.

The financial-inclusion effect was substantial: over seven lakh tea garden workers were reported to have entered the banking system in the period following demonetisation, and the Union Finance Minister publicly directed banks to operationalise Assam tea garden workers' accounts.

Who is eligible for the Rs 5,000 tea garden assistance?

You can receive the payment if:

• You are a permanent or casual (temporary) labourer of a tea garden located in Assam.
• Your name appears on the verified worker roll or muster roll submitted by the garden management to the Labour Welfare Department.
• You hold a bank account in your own name, preferably Aadhaar-seeded.
• You are a resident of Assam working in one of the state's tea gardens.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not on any tea garden's worker roll. Members of tea tribe communities who do not work in a garden are not eligible for this particular payment, even though other tea tribe welfare schemes may cover them.
• You work in a tea garden outside Assam.
• You are garden management or supervisory staff rather than a labourer. The scheme is directed at the working labour force.
• Your name appears twice on garden lists; duplicates are removed at verification.

An important clarification: this grant does not depend on income tests, land holding or caste category. Eligibility rests entirely on being a listed tea garden worker.

What documents are needed?

Because the list is compiled by the garden, the practical task for a worker is not gathering documents for a form but making sure the garden's record of their name, Aadhaar number and bank account is correct and current.

How to apply for the tea garden workers' financial assistance

There is no individual application form. The Government of Assam works from garden-submitted worker lists. What a worker can and should do is make sure they are correctly on that list.

1. Check with your garden's labour office or welfare officer that your name appears on the worker list submitted to the Labour Welfare Department for the current round. Ask to see the entry against your name.
2. Open a bank account in your own name if you do not have one, at the nearest bank branch, business correspondent point or post office payments bank outlet. Carry Aadhaar and a photograph.
3. Get Aadhaar seeded to that account and give the account number and IFSC to the garden labour office in writing so the record is updated.
4. Attend the garden-level distribution camp when it is announced. Rounds have been distributed both by direct bank credit and by cheque handed over at camps.
5. Collect and deposit any cheque immediately. Cheques carry a limited validity, and undistributed or uncollected cheques have expired in the past, as reported from Bokakhat.
6. Follow up with the district Labour Office if the garden confirms your name is on the list but no payment has reached you.

How to check whether your payment has been made

1. Ask the garden labour office to show the disbursement record against your name for the current round.
2. Check your bank passbook by updating it at the branch or business correspondent, and look for a state government credit of Rs 5,000.
3. Check SMS alerts on the mobile number registered with your bank.
4. If a cheque was issued in your name, ask the garden office where it is held and collect it before it expires.
5. For unresolved cases, approach the District Labour Officer or the office of the Deputy Commissioner in your district.

Why a worker misses the payment

• Name missing from the garden's submitted list, usually because the worker joined recently or works casually and was not entered on the roll.
• No bank account, or an account that has gone dormant through non-use.
• Aadhaar not seeded to the account, so the transfer is rejected.
• Cheque issued but not collected before its validity lapsed. This was reported in Bokakhat, where Eti Koli Duti Paat cheques expired undistributed.
• Duplicate entries across two gardens, removed at verification.
• Name or spelling mismatch between the garden record, Aadhaar and the bank account.

Most of these are fixable at garden level. A worker who was left out of one round should get the record corrected immediately so the next round is not missed as well.

Key dates

• 2017-18; Chah Bagichar Dhan Puraskar Mela launched, combining bank account opening with cash awards of Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500.
• 10 May 2025 — Assam Cabinet approves the Mukhya Mantrir Eti Koli Duti Paat scheme, announcing a one-time assistance of Rs 5,000 to each permanent and temporary tea garden labourer, tied to the 200th year of Assam tea.
• January 2026, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launches the scheme at Doomdooma, Tinsukia district, disbursing Rs 5,000 each to over 6 lakh workers, and inaugurates mobile creche and mobile toilet services in tea garden areas.

No fixed annual application date exists, because the payment is not application-driven. Each round is announced by the state government and executed through garden lists.

Where to raise a grievance

• Garden welfare officer or labour office. The first stop for a missing name or an uncollected cheque.
• District Labour Officer, under the Labour Welfare Department, Government of Assam.
• Deputy Commissioner's office in your district, which coordinates distribution camps.
• Labour Welfare Department, Government of Assam at labour.assam.gov.in.

No fee is payable to anyone for inclusion in the beneficiary list. Any person demanding money to add a worker's name to the Eti Koli Duti Paat or Chah Bagichar Dhan Puraskar Mela list should be reported to the garden management and the district Labour Officer.