The Hindu Business Line : Tea replanting package pact on June 29

The break-up
Plantation owners to get 50 per cent of funds as soft loan from Special Purpose Tea Fund, and another 25 per cent as subsidy from the Centre. To raise the remaining 25 per cent by themselves.

Thiruvananthapuram April 5 The Union Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has said that the loan agreement for replanting/rejuvenation of tea plantations will be signed on June 29.

Plantation owners will get 50 per cent of the funds as soft loan from the Special Purpose Tea Fund, and another 25 per cent as subsidy from the Centre. But they would need to raise the remaining 25 per cent by themselves.

The financial parameters of the collaborative package would be worked out in consultation with the Union Finance Ministry, the Minister told newspersons at the end of a two-day visit to the State.

This is being taken up as part of the Rs 3,000-crore package for replanting-cum-rejuvenation for the plantation sector in the country. The package is being implemented under the 11th Five Year Plan and covers tea, coffee, pepper, cardamom, coconut and rubber.

It has been proposed to replant 70,000 hectares of pepper; 25,000 hectares of cardamom; 50,000 hectares of rubber; and four lakh hectares of coconut.

The details pertaining to cashew are yet to be worked out, the Minister said. The Minister had a series of meetings over the past two days with the Kerala Chief Minister, Mr V. S. Achuthanandan, and his Cabinet colleagues in charge of industry, labour, coir and agriculture.

Of the 17 tea plantations remaining closed in the State, 14 are in Idukki district. A decision has been taken with respect to opening 12 of them on May 25 and the other two on June 9.

The State Government has agreed to grant certain concessions to the respective plantation owners.

Cashew Board

Mr Achuthanandan has proposed the formation of a Cashew Board. The Centre would look into the proposal, Mr Jairam Ramesh said. Referring to the Chief Minister's criticism that the free import policy had triggered the crisis in the plantation sector, he said it was not fair to blame the policy alone.

The plantations were very old and low productivity was the main reason for the fall in prices and the resultant crisis. While signing the ASEAN free trade pact, the Centre would try to ensure that the interests of Kerala are protected, he said.

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