The North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) has appealed to the Assam government to urgently organise vaccination camps in the tea estates across the State.
The Association made the request after 505 plantation workers tested COVID-19 positive across 90 tea estates in 15 districts, 133 of them in Zaloni Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district followed by 52 in Dekorai Tea Estate and 48 in Pertabghur Tea Estate in Biswanath district.
“Please direct the district authorities to set up vaccination camps in tea gardens urgently, so that the front-line workers and residents are vaccinated at the earliest. Vaccination of the workforce is of utmost importance at this hour,” NETA advisor Bidyananda Borkakoty said in a letter to Samir Kumar Sinha, State Principal Secretary for Health and Family Welfare, on Saturday.
“The tea garden population needs protection from the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic through vaccination. The estates did not face this problem last year. Vaccinating the workforce is crucial before things go beyond control,” Mr. Borkakoty told The Hindu .
Containment zone
Officials in the affected districts said the estates with COVID-19 positive cases have been declared containment zones by the local administration.
Assam has 803 large estates and more than 1.5 lakh small tea gardens, together employing more than 10 lakh people.
