Kolkata, Dec 24 (IANS): The Tea Board of India on Friday said it has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for ensuring smooth payment of wages of tea garden workers in West Bengal, following the demonetisation of high value currency.

Tea Board Chairman Santosh Sarangi discussed the issue of payment of wages to tea garden workers with RBIs Chief General Manager and requested him to take the necessary effective steps. "This was followed up with a meeting of Tea Board officials with the Regional Director and Chief General Manager on December 21 (Wednesday)," a statement said.

The board requested the apex bank for issuing suitable directives to the banks catering to the tea gardens in north Bengal for taking special initiatives for sealess payment of wages to tea garden workers.

The board also urged RBI to "take measures for improvement of the currency flow" to the tea growing districts -Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Alipurduar and Coochbehar as per requirement so that "outstanding wages can be paid immediately and timely payment of wages in the coming days".

It called for expeditious opening of bank accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana for individual workers so that wages can be transferred by the garden owners directly to the workers accounts.

The board had approached to West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu government for accepting deposit of money from tea garden owners in any bank account of the district administration and withdrawal of cash by the administration for making payment to garden workers.