Calcutta, March 15 :     Tea garden workers in Assam used to earn a day of rest on Sunday. Now they stand to earn something more ? a paid holiday. Until now, all that the 5 lakh tea garden workers in Assam could look forward to was a day of rest after six days of back-breaking toil. Not any more. The Assam government has gone ahead and amended the 1948 Minimum Wages Act and ordered the tea industry to give the five lakh tea garden workers a weekly paid holiday. Even better: it has made the amendment with immediate effect. But the tea garden owners are up in arms. They say they are not in position to fork out the extra Rs 80 crore a year that the ?paid holiday? will entail. In a notification issued last week that sent shivers down the industry?s spine and a ripple of joy through the ranks of tea garden workers, the government said the labourers ?shall be entitled to wages for the day of rest in every period of seven days in addition to the working days and wages for the rest day shall be calculated at rates applicable to the next preceding day as provided under rule 23 (4) of the Assam Minimum Wages Rule, 1952?. While the unions rejoiced, the industry growled. Said R.S. Jhawar, the vice-chairman of the Indian Tea Association, ?The economy of Assam is dependent to a large extent on the tea industry. With an annual production of 450 million kgs, the tea industry is virtually the state?s industrial backbone. This amendment in the Minimum Wage Act will seriously affect the tea industry which is already burdened with an excise duty of Rs 2 per kg on bulk tea in this year?s Union budget.? Jhawar, who is a director of the Williamson Magor group which has a large presence in Assam, said, ?We will take up the matter with the Assam government immediately. Our people are working on it.? But as the big boys of the tea industry step up lobbying, it?s celebration time for the workers in Assam?s 750 tea gardens. Said a senior member of the Intuc-affiliated Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangh, ?Tea workers in the valley, who are mostly descendants of the indentured labourers who were brought from Bihar, Orissa and South India to plant tea saplings in the middle of the last century, continue to wallow in poverty. This is despite the fact that the Centre enacted the Plantations Labour Act way back in 1951 as part of its efforts to protect their rights. The Assam government?s move to ensure that they get paid on their off-day comes as a welcome relief to the much-deprived community.? A daily worker earns Rs 28 a day along with provident fund, firewood allowance, bonus and gratuity. An increase in a day?s salary means the industry will have to provide for all that on the off-days, said P.K. Bose, managing director of Warren Tea. This will ratchet up the wage bill by about 17 per cent. And Chinmay Bhaduri, labour advisor to the Tea Association of India, is not happy with the set-up. ?With the cost of production spiralling, the move will badly pinch the bottomlines of the tea companies,? he said.