𝐓𝐞𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

Hundreds of tea workers, supported by members of the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA), Doomdooma unit, on Wednesday laid siege to the main entrance of the Deamoolie Tea Estate office in Tinsukia district, protesting deteriorating living conditions, unemployment and a failing education system.

The protest, which lasted nearly two hours, was organised under the ATTSA’s Baghjan–Dighaltarang sub-unit and witnessed active participation from tea workers. The estate’s main gate turned into a flashpoint of anger, marking one of the most determined localised agitations in the area in recent months.

Demonstrators accused the tea estate management of prolonged neglect, alleging that workers’ quarters, sanitation facilities and basic social infrastructure had been allowed to deteriorate over the years. Raising slogans and holding placards, protesters remained stationed at the gate, effectively disrupting normal movement at the estate.

Leading the protest, ATTSA Doomdooma unit president Irot Tanti said the protest was organised to press for the immediate resolution of long-pending demands.

“Today, under the Assam Chah Janajati Chatra Santha, Doomdooma unit, a two-hour protest was organised at the main entrance gate of Deamoolie tea garden with the cooperation of tea workers,” Tanti told Northeast Now. “We demanded immediate repair of residential quarters and toilets, employment for unemployed youths against vacant posts, and appointment of teachers in primary schools as per the prescribed student–teacher ratio. These demands must be fulfilled at the earliest.”

During the protest, a detailed memorandum outlining the demands was formally submitted to the tea estate management amid tight security arrangements.

Activists said the Deamoolie protest reflects a broader and intensifying agitation across Assam’s tea belt, where workers and students’ bodies have increasingly raised concerns over inadequate wages, crumbling housing, chronic unemployment among youth and acute shortages of teachers in garden schools.

Many organisations are now demanding a daily wage of Rs 551, arguing that the existing minimum wage in the Brahmaputra Valley has become grossly insufficient in 2026 due to rising costs of food, fuel, education and healthcare.

The education crisis within tea estates remains particularly severe. Overcrowded classrooms, often managed by a single teacher handling dozens of students, continue to push dropout rates among children from tea communities well above the state average, activists said.

While the Assam government has announced incremental wage revisions and land-rights initiatives for tea garden workers since early 2026, protest leaders alleged that implementation on the ground has been patchy and slow, further fuelling discontent.

ATTSA leaders warned that the Deamoolie action was only the beginning. In the absence of swift and visible action on housing repairs, sanitation, employment and school staffing, they cautioned that similar gate sieges and larger coordinated protests could soon spread across tea-growing districts including Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo and Sivasagar.

The Deamoolie Tea Estate management did not respond to the demands raised in the memorandum. The district labour department had also not issued any official statement at the time of filing this report.