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Nearly six months after the Commerce Ministry took over the management of seven ailing tea gardens of the Duncan group, repeated invitations seeking Expressions of Interest (EoI) have failed to elicit a response.
On January 28, the Ministry took management control of the gardens in West Bengal with an aim to hand them over to eligible promoters on a 5-11 year management contract. Since the quality of tea assets deteriorates if left unattended, the delay puts a question mark on the success of the tender in future.
On Monday, the Tea Board invited expressions of interest for management control of four Duncan group tea estates: Demdima, Lankapara, Huntapara and Tulsipara.
With this, Demdima was put on the block for the third time. In the past, the Board invited EoIs exclusively for Demdima on February 12 and April 28. Both the offers failed.
EoIs for Lankapara, Huntapara and Tulsipara were previously sought along with three (Birpara, Garganda and Dhumcipara) more Duncan gardens. The tender was issued on March 21.
Tea Board sources say that they have diluted the working capital requirement clause to attract the attention of planters.
Unlike in the past, the Board did not quote any number on working capital guarantees in the latest tender.
Little interest But, reputed planters in the region say that is not enough. “We are not interested in the offer,” said one of the most reputed planters having substantial interest in the region.
According to him, there is interest is waning among planters to increase exposure in Dooars (Bengal) due to low land and labour productivity and, lower price for teas than in Assam.
Moreover, the Duncan estates are now unattended for nearly one and a half years causing serious damage to the bush. It means, the gardens will require extensive re-plantation.
Andrew Yule Meanwhile, the industry is abuzz with the rumour that lack of interest from planters may finally force the Centre to convince the public sector Andrew Yule to take over the management control of Duncan gardens.
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