Cabinet to approve draft tea labour welfare fund act today

The cabinet is set to approve draft of 'Bangladesh Tea Labour Welfare Fund Act 2014' today (Monday) that includes welfare of the workers and ensures their children's education, healthcare and other facilities, officials said.
The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has sent a summary of the draft act to the Cabinet Division for approval.
"We have sent the draft summary of the Act to the Cabinet Division for its approval," a joint secretary of the MoC told the FE.
He said the welfare of tea garden workers is now maintained under an ordinance "The Bangladesh Cha Sramik Kallyan Fund Ordinance, 1986.
Earlier, the government contributed Tk 10 million to the welfare fund of the tea garden labourers/ workers. Bangladesh Tea Board is looking after the welfare of the tea garden workers and their family members.  
The proposed Act will help ensure welfare of the tea garden labourers and their children in respect of education, health care, marriage for the is children.
If the cabinet approves the draft Act in principle then it will go to the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry for vetting. After the vetting it will again go to the cabinet for final approval.  
The country has a total of 166 tea gardens which on an average produce 6.5 million kilogrammes (kgs) of tea. The numbers of tea garden labourers are 95734 and nearly 0.4 million people are dependent for their livelihood on tea gardens, according to the MoC.  
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