Bengal: CEC Gyanesh Kumar faces 'go back' slogans, shown black flags outside Dakshineswar temple
Kolkata (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar faced protests with a group of people raising 'go back' slogans and showing black flags to him during his visit to Dakshineswar Kali Temple near here on Tuesday morning.
A similar protest over alleged arbitrary deletions in the post-SIR electoral rolls in the state was held outside the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport upon his arrival in Kolkata on Sunday night.
He had faced the 'go back' slogans and was shown black flags on Monday morning when he visited the Kalighat Temple in the southern part of the city.
Despite the protests outside the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kumar continued with his scheduled programmes in the state.
The CEC also visited Belur Math in Howrah district this morning, and said the poll panel is committed to violence-free elections in West Bengal.
He said the commission will make efforts to ensure that voters can exercise their franchise in a festive environment.
“The EC would like to ensure that polls will be violence-free or intimidation-free,” Kumar said while speaking to reporters during his visit to Belur Math.
The CEC is on a visit to the state to review poll preparedness and held meetings with political parties and officials on Monday ahead of the assembly elections.
During the meetings on Monday, Kumar warned that any lapse in maintaining law and order ahead of the elections would not be tolerated and stressed the need for strict monitoring to ensure free and fair polls.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had accused Kumar of threatening state officials during a meeting with the administration on Monday, and warned that "false bravado" by constitutional authorities was not acceptable, stepping up the confrontation between the state government and the poll panel over the voter deletions in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
According to official data released on February 28, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted since the SIR process began in November last year, reducing the voter base from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
In addition, over 60.06 lakh electors have been placed under the "under adjudication" category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks, a process that could further reshape constituency-level electoral equations.
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Hike in Assam tea garden workers' daily wage by Rs 30 from Apr 1
Guwahati (PTI): The Assam government has announced increasing the daily wage of tea garden workers by Rs 30 from next month, an official notification said.
The hike will be applicable for workers in estate gardens as well as in small tea gardens in the state, which is the country's largest tea-producing state.
"Consequent upon the recommendation of Minimum Wages Advisory Board for tea plantation workers of Assam in its meeting on 26.2.2026, Governor of Assam is pleased to allow an interim increase of Rs 30 in the interim minimum wages of the tea plantation workers with effect from 1.4.2026," the notification issued on March 7 said.
Accordingly, tea workers in Brahmaputra valley will receive Rs 280 per day against the existing Rs 250, while those in Barak valley will be paid Rs 258 daily against the current Rs 228 from April one.
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The increase in the interim wages will also be applicable for workers engaged in small tea gardens both in Brahmaputra and Barak valley, the notification added.
The minimum daily wage of tea garden workers was last hiked in the state by Rs 18 in October 2023.
The state Cabinet had approved the hike in the daily wages by Rs 30 on February 26, following a tripartite meeting held earlier that day between the state government, tea garden labour unions and owners on the issue of increasing the wages.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said after the Cabinet meeting that as new Labour Codes were being implemented by the Centre, wages will have to be hiked again and the stakeholders will "probably have to sit again in the next six months".
The final daily wages for the tea garden workers are likely to cross Rs 300 after that, he had added.
