This will benefit lakhs of tea garden people staying in tea gardens for generations. The bill was passed on Friday.
BJP MLA Rupesh Gowala, tea tribe MLA from Doom Dooma and minister termed the Bill historic, recalling that workers had lived in company quarters for decades without ownership rights. “This has always been a temporary settlement. After retirement, if a worker has no son to replace him, the family used to lose both shelter and benefits”.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Bill seeks to correct a historic injustice. “When the British brought tea workers to Assam, they made them work as slaves. Over time, laws gave them humanity but not dignity. Today, that mistake is being rectified.”
Families living in labour lines will receive land pattas for the land they occupy. The land cannot be sold for 20 years and thereafter only to another tea garden worker family.
Sarma said that a dedicated housing scheme for tea workers will be rolled out within two months following district-level surveys.Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2025 seeks to exclude labour lines (garden labour colonies) from the definition of “purposes ancillary to special cultivation” in tea estates.This aims to ensure secure land rights for tea garden worker families by allowing the State to resume labour line land and settle it exclusively with verified worker households. As part of the reform each tea garden worker family residing in labour lines will be eligible for settlement. A total of 2,18,553 bighas of land across 825 tea estates and 3,33,486 tea worker families are expected to be benefitted under this piece of legislation.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi raised serious doubts about the “timing, intent and practicality” of the Bill. He felt the bill may remain only on paper.
Gogoi said. “Tea garden workers have worked hard and demanded land rights for generations. If the government was genuinely concerned, they would have passed this Bill when the BJP first came to power under Sarbananda Sonowal or when Himanta Biswa Sarma became Chief Minister.”