The families who pick Assam's tea began getting legal title to the homes they live on, as the state handed land pattas to garden workers across three districts on March 15, the first phase of a drive to give them ownership of housing-line plots their families have occupied for generations without a deed.

In Sonitpur district, 2,346 pattas went to families across six estates: Harchura Tea Estate (799), Dibrudarang Tea Estate (695), Belsiri Tea Estate (501), Borsola Tea Estate (177), Noorbari Tea Estate (163), and Tupia Tea Estate (11), according to The Sentinel. In Golaghat district, 2,931 tea worker families across 11 gardens received pattas. In West Karbi Anglong, the ceremony reached tribal communities near the Rongkhang Reserve, with Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council chief Tuliram Ronghang presiding.

The pattas cover labour-line land, the housing plots inside estate boundaries where generations of tea garden workers have lived without formal title. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dedicating the first phase from Guwahati, called it the end of "a historic injustice towards the tea garden workers" and said he was "repaying a debt," noting that tea picked by Assam's workers reached markets as far as Gujarat, where he once sold tea himself, The Assam Tribune reported. The first phase reached 28,241 families statewide, according to Kashmir Images.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called the rollout the fulfilment of "a long-standing aspiration of the tea garden community," according to The Assam Tribune. District Commissioner Ananda Kumar Das attended the Sonitpur ceremony at Barchalla; Agriculture Minister Atul Bora and District Commissioner Purbali Gohain took part in Golaghat.

Sources: The Sentinel Assam, "Land pattas distributed to tea garden workers across Assam"; The Assam Tribune, "Giving land rights to tea workers is my way of repaying a debt: PM Modi"; Kashmir Images, "Assam Ending 'Historic Injustice' by Giving Land Pattas to Tea Garden Workers: PM".