Tripura government has announced an increase in the daily wages of seasonal laborers working under the Agriculture and Horticulture Department of the state. The state’s Agriculture Minister, Ratan Lal Nath, made the announcement during a press conference at the Secretariat on Monday. The daily wages of all seasonal laborers employed under the department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare across the state have been increased to Rs 385 from now. The hike in wages has been made effective from April 1 this year.
According to the minister, there are currently a total of 1,321 seasonal laborers in the Agriculture and Horticulture Department, out of which 715 are working under the Agriculture Department, and 606 workers are under the Horticulture Department. The minister expressed hope that the increase in wages would benefit the working-class people of the state.
In addition to this, the minister also shared some statistics regarding the production and demand of food grains in the state. He informed that presently there is a demand for 9,37,000 metric tons of food grains in the state, whereas the production of food grains in the state stands at 8,71,000 metric tons. The minister also mentioned that the production of food grains was 8,50,000 metric tons during the financial year 2017-18.
Moreover, during the last five years, the Agriculture and Horticulture Department has taken initiatives to export various agricultural products such as tamarind, wood apple, jackfruit, ginger, betel leaf, lemon, etc., outside the state and foreign countries. Through these initiatives, the state has earned Rs. 18 crore from foreign countries. The increase in wages of seasonal laborers is expected to boost the agriculture and horticulture sector of the state.
