The Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association (ATTSA) held a two-hour dharna at Rajabari Tea Estate in Lakwa, Sivasagar district, on Wednesday, demanding that the state government expedite land pattas for tea garden workers living in labour lines.
A large number of workers joined the protest, which focused on the delayed implementation of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Act, 2025. The legislation was passed by the Assam Legislative Assembly on November 28, 2025, and aims to provide land ownership rights to eligible tea garden workers and their families.
Protesters said workers at Rajabari Tea Estate were still waiting for their pattas nearly a year after the law was enacted. ATTSA leader Prahlad Gowala said the government had passed legislation promising land rights to thousands of tea garden families but had not yet ensured that the promised documents reached beneficiaries.
“Despite the govt passing a landmark legislation promising land rights to thousands of tea garden families, workers are still waiting for the actual implementation of the Act. Passing a Bill in the assembly is not enough; the govt must ensure that the promised land pattas reach the beneficiaries,” Gowala said.
The association demanded that the state government accelerate the land settlement process and ensure that eligible families from the Tea Tribes and Adivasi communities are not excluded. The protest also highlighted the long-term tenure insecurity faced by tea workers who have lived in labour lines for generations without legal ownership documents for their homesteads.
The absence of land titles leaves families without permanent ownership over the homes where they live and can make it difficult to establish secure residential rights. The 2025 amendment seeks to address this by excluding labour lines from land classified as ancillary to special cultivation, allowing the government to acquire and settle the land with eligible workers.
The legislation is intended to benefit more than 3.33 lakh tea garden worker families living across 825 tea estates in Assam. Under the prescribed conditions, eligible families may receive settlement of homestead land measuring up to one bigha. The allotted land will remain subject to restrictions on transfer, while the government is responsible for carrying out the settlement process that workers at Rajabari are demanding.
