The Hindu Business Line : Tea subsidy, a poll issue in Nilgiris

The Government has announced that all growers would be given a total of Rs 4,200 an acre for the announced subsidy period once the elections are over.

Coonoor , May 3

Tea subsidy to the small growers has become an election issue in Nilgiris, the largest tea producing district in the South. The State is going to polls on May 8.

Sensing the mood of the small tea growers who constitute the bulk of the voters in Udhagamandalam, Gudalur and Coonoor constituencies, the Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, has announced, during her campaign in the district, that if re-voted to power, her Government would continue with the current subsidy until the growers got a fair price for their green leaves.

Just before the election code came into operation, her Government prepared itself to face the elections by disbursing subsidies to the small farmers of the Nilgiris under a newly announced project called "Tamil Nadu Government Small Tea Growers' Protection Scheme".

In the first phase that covered six months till December 31, 2005, the Government disbursed subsidy at the rate of Rs 2,800 an acre to 50,329 growers. This involved an outlay of Rs 18.59 crore.

In the second phase that began in the New Year, the Government announced a subsidy of Rs 1,400 an acre. This involved an outlay of Rs 9.29 crore. The disbursal started on February 15, but before the work could be completed, the election code came into force requiring the stoppage of the disbursal. Now, the Government had announced that all the growers would be given a total of Rs 4,200 an acre for the announced subsidy period once the elections are over.

The Opposition is charging that the subsidy is a pure election gimmick as it has been given only towards the end of the five-year term although prices had been ruling dismally low during the entire period. So, these parties are canvassing that once the polls are over, the AIADMK would throw the promise to the winds.

But, the ruling front is telling the grower-voters that subsidy itself became necessary only because the DMK-Congress combine at the Centre did not fulfil their demand for a floor price for tea. The growers had been demanding a floor price of Rs 15 a kg for the green leaf. Currently, the price is Rs 7 a kg.

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