Tamil Nadu - Udhagamandalam   

Small tea growers await subsidy

By D. Radhakrishnan

UDHAGAMANDALAM, JULY 31. Thousands of small tea growers in the Nilgiris, who have been suffering on account of the prolonged crisis in the tea industry, have been subjected to an agonising wait for the implementation of a tea leaf subsidy scheme for the past few months.

Just before the dates for the Lok Sabha elections were fixed, it had been announced by the then Government that they would be paid a four-month subsidy of Rs. 2 per kg of green leaf, starting February 2004.

With periodic assurances, the growers were hoping that they would get the financial relief soon. But with no palpable action, despondency has begun to creep in among the community.

Even around the middle of June, a press note from the Coonoor office of the Tea Board stated that the price subsidy scheme for small tea growers "would be implemented immediately".

Small growers who owned 10.12 hectares (25 acres) were eligible to receive the subsidy and those who had benefited from a subsidy scheme implemented a few years earlier were allotted registration numbers, which had been circulated to all the factories.

However, when The Hindu contacted the Board on Wednesday, a senior official said it was yet to receive funds from the Government.

Stating that he was not sure of when exactly the money would reach the Coonoor office, the official said the applications received were being processed. He was also not aware of the reasons for the delay.

Some tea planters in Kotagiri are in the process of forming a `sangam' to bring into focus their problems.

Farmers' caution

The Nilgiris District chapter of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, in a statement issued in Kotagiri, cautioned that if nothing was done by August 15, its members would take to the streets.

Regretting that the recent Union Budget had ignored the small tea growers, the Association wanted the district administration to ensure that the tea manufacturers paid remunerative rates to growers.

An ad-hoc committee, comprising representatives of parties from the Democratic Progressive Alliance, which was formed by the Nilgiris MP, R. Prabhu, immediately after the elections, decided to urge the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief, M. Karunanidhi, to bring the plight of the growers to the notice of the Centre.

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