KOCHI: Tea workers, affiliated to the Plantation Thozhilali Varga Union, have demanded that the management of mismanaged tea companies in the State should be transferred to either a Government agency or to worker cooperatives.

The Union, which is affiliated to the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), urged the Government to re-organise such tea companies.

V.B. Cherian, State president of NTUI, said here on Saturday that the provisions of the Tea Act should be expeditiously used to transfer the management of these companies. He said that present crisis in the tea sector was due to artificial low price created for tea through the mechanism of auctions. The Parliamentary Committee, headed by Kailash Joshi in 2003, had highlighted that the crisis in the tea sector was following the mismanagement of estates and artificial low prices created by the companies. A report on tea industry commissioned by the Tea Board had also highlighted these two points, he said.

Mr. Cherian said that the present proposal of the Government to set up a special purpose tea fund could make the situation worse for the workers. About Rs.4,897 crore had been earmarked under the special fund. The Plantation Thozhilali Varga Union pointed out that the Government plans to hand over this fund to the managements of the tea companies.

A press release issued by the union said that there were no guidelines as to how the disbursement would be made. There was no mention of mismanaged companies being kept out of the ambit of the special purpose tea fund.

The release said that the recommendations of the Kailash Committee clearly sought to debar mismanaged tea estates from any Government relief. The union alleged that managements of mismanaged tea estates would siphon off the Government money. The tea companies have announced their reopening with a view to access the special fund, it said.

The union representatives said that the Government should immediately address the auction system in tea plantation, which is the root of the extremely low prices in the sector. The current price of Rs.50 a kilogram of tea was not viable for any long-term survival of the sector. A minimum tea price of Rs. 70 a kg was necessary. The press release said that the special tea fund should be used for the revival of genuine tea companies that have a real interest in carrying on a fair business over a long term. This would include special attention to tea cooperatives of workers.

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