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Mr Jairam Ramesh

Mohan Padmanabhan

Kolkata, Oct. 17 The Union Government, for the first time, has sanctioned a special education and book grant to about 16,000 workers of the 13 closed tea gardens of North Bengal, under which Rs 1,000 will be disbursed per child. Talking to Business Line here, the Union Minister of State for Ccommerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said the special grant will also cover the eight closed tea gardens of Kerala, involving some 11,000 workers.

He said a cheque for Rs 1.7 crore was handed over to the District Magistrate of Jalpaiguri, Mr R. Ranjit, by the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, for further disbursement to the bank accounts of the workers. He said the allocation for labour welfare in the Tea Board’s programmes has now gone up from Rs 5 crore in the 10th Plan to Rs 50 crore in the 11th Plan.

He said the Ministry of Panchayati Raj was now engaged in exercises to see how Central programmes, being implemented by panchayat bodies, could benefit the tea garden workers covered separately under the Plantation Labour Act.

Suggesting that high priority was being given to re-opening of closed tea gardens, the Union Minister said response has been received from three tea garden owners (out of the 13 closed gardens in West Bengal) to the showcause notices issued by the Tea Board to all the owners of closed gardens in West Bengal, Kerala and Assam on October 4, asking why Section 16(E) of the Tea Act, 1953 should not be invoked against them (for take-over of the garden before being handed over to another willing owner).

He reiterated the Centre’s determination to use Section 16(E) as a last resort to deal with “recalcitrant owners” who have failed to respond to the substantial financial relief package extended to them by the Centre some four months back. In Kerala, four of the six remaining closed tea gardens have responded.

Expressing the hope that at least a few closed gardens should open latest by February 2008, in time for the plantation season, the Tea Board Chairman, Mr Basudeb Banerjee, said reopening of some four gardens was delayed on account of pending legal proceedings initiated by unsecured creditors.

Underscoring the economic and social significance of small tea growers, who now account for nearly 25 per cent of North Bengal’s tea production, Mr Ramesh said the Centre for Tea Engineering being launched by the Tea Board at IIT, Kharagpur, will develop new, cost-effective processing technologies for small tea growers.

He said there were some 12,000 small growers in North Bengal, though only about 2,500 are registered with the Tea Board.

The Minister said the Board has catalysed the formation of 19 SHGs of small growers with a total membership of 1,200.

More Stories on : Social Welfare | Tea | Agricultural Policy | Education | West Bengal

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