KOLKATA: Encouraged by its success in reviving tea gardens in Kerala, the Union Commerce Ministry is now planning to hold tripartite meetings in West Bengal in a bid to reopen the 14 tea gardens lying closed for long.

The move comes at a time when the Ministry is awaiting Cabinet approval for a rehabilitation package that it has prepared for the reopening of the 33 tea gardens closed in Kerala, West Bengal and Assam.

The fate of 30,000 workers directly employed (and their one lakh dependents), is linked with these gardens, the managements of which have piled up liabilities worth Rs. 237 crore in provident fund and bank dues. These gardens have locked up an area of 11,449 hectareswhich was under tea cultivation. Many of these gardens have remained closed since 1999 when a crisis gripped the tea industry.

Financial implication

The total financial implication [for the government] of the package is estimated at Rs. 57 crore and other components include a Rs. 184 crore conversion of outstanding bank dues to term loans, waiver of Tea Board loans, waiver of `damages' on Employees Provident Fund and extension of term loan for garden improvement. These components would be sanctioned immediately after the approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). When contacted, Union Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, said he, along with the Tea Board chairman, would hold talks with the unions, the managements and the State government in West Bengal. "I propose to do this within the next fortnight," he added.

The main impetus is to bring these gardens back on stream so as to enable them to qualify for the tea replantation and rejuvenation fund. The Commerce Ministry also plans to ask the State governments to extend concessions on the lines extended by the Kerala government. These include exempting farmers in the plantation sector from agricultural income tax and plantation tax for 2003-04 and 2004-05. It may be mentioned that after months of hectic efforts by the minister himself, the Bonacard tea garden in Kerala, owned by Mahabir Tea Plantations Ltd reopened recently. Nine more are set to open by end-May followed by two more in June.

Sources said the 33 gardens closed as on April 1, will not be able to recover without heavy infusion of funds and an intensive revival scheme.

Committees appointed to study the problem in these gardens have identified poor yields, negligible equity infusion, diversion of funds and ownership disputes as the reasons behind their closure. These gardens need bulk investment in plantations.

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