The Hindu : Business : Move to take over closed tea gardens

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Sunday, Feb 17, 2008
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Move to take over closed tea gardens

Special Correspondent

Survey will be done on status of small tea-growers in WB

— PHOTO: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

REVIVAL EFFORT: Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh (right) talking to media persons along with Basudev Bannerjee (left), Chairman of Tea Board of India, in Kolkata on Saturday.

KOLKATA: In a bid to reopen the closed tea gardens in West Bengal, the Union Commerce Ministry and the West Bengal Government have decided to either takeover or to issue show-cause notices to terminate leases of most of the 13 closed tea gardens.

The takeover would be done by the Tea Board under Sec. 16 (E) of the Tea Act, making it the first such instance in 55 years of the Act’s existence. The section empowers the Tea Board to take over gardens closed for a long time and hand them over to new owners.

Addressing a joint press conference with two West Bengal ministers — Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, and Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdul Rezzak Molla, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said that while bids had been invited for four West Bengal gardens, at least five more gardens were expected to be recommended for coverage under the Sec. 16(E) of the Act by Monday. Simultaneously, the State Government would issue show-cause notices for terminating their land leases in case they had not been renewed. The media-briefing followed a garden-by garden review of the situation.

Mr. Sen said that two leases had already been cancelled and the bids had already received by the State Government. Of the 33 tea gardens which remained closed in West Bengal and Kerala since the crisis over low tea prices in 2003 (which led to 136 closures), 14 were in West Bengal and the balance in Kerala.

In his over year-long efforts to reopen these gardens, Mr. Ramesh said that nine had been reopened in Kerala and three more were set to be reopened shortly. However, the success had eluded him in West Bengal where so far only one garden had reopened. These gardens employ over 30,000, who were now facing great hardship due to the prolonged closure.

Issues regarding ownership and legal hurdles were some of the reasons why the progress had been so poor in West Bengal. There were 280 tea estates in West Bengal that contributed about 25 per cent of the country’s annual tea production, which averages at 900 million kg.

Pointing out that many of the tea bushes in West Bengal were over 40 years old, Mr. Ramesh said that uncertainty regarding the status of lease had resulted in a poor response to the Centre’s Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF).

Mr. Sen said that it had been decided at the meeting that a survey would be done within May on the status of the small tea-growers in the State.

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