Give up ailing tea gardens, we’ll find new takers: Mamata

Sovon Manna,TNN | Nov 5, 2015, KOLKATA: Following adverse reactions from the industry, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday modified her statement that the government would take over closed or abandoned tea gardens. Addressing a meeting at Malbazar in the Dooars on Wednesday the CM asked tea garden owners who have defaulted on wages and other dues to "surrender the gardens to the government" so that they can be given to new takers. 

"We will help those who are running the tea gardens properly. But those who are closing down the gardens all of a sudden without giving provident fund to plantation workers aren't doing the right thing. Let them surrender the gardens. We will find new takers," Mamata said. She also ordered resumption of electricity and drinking water supply in the closed tea gardens. 

The task is easier said than done, feels the tea industry. With productivity falling in the Dooars and production costs rising, garden owners are at a loss. Azam Monem, Indian Tea Association (ITA) vice-president and full-time director at McLeod Russel (the world's largest tea producer), said: "The region is in a mess. Tea is sold below $2 a kg while its production cost is over $2.5. Besides, a closed tea property would be hypothecated to a bank and cannot be easily transferred to an able management." Monem urged the state government to give subsidies instead. "The government could ease the crisis by waiving electricity costs or offering subsidy on rising labour costs," said Monem. 

Steeped in crisis, many ailing tea gardens in Dooars and Terai that produce almost 42% of the state's tea are mulling diversification. "The CM's announcing a possible takeover is an indication of the crisis. The Dooars tea market is shrinking. No tea company bets big on the quality and quantity of the tea the region produces," said an ITA official. 

The fact has come to light in the wake of the crisis in Duncans Group owned tea gardens. These tea gardens were never planned to be put on the block, said a source. In fact, the gardens, with old tea bushes and dilapidated infrastructure, have very little demand in the merger and acquisition market. The falling price of Dooars tea in for the past few decades has made things more difficult for the Duncans to revive their aged gardens. 

Monem pointed out that Dooars tea is often not fit for export. "Dooars produces plainer tea which cannot be exported. It is only sold in domestic market. Even districts buy only 20%-25% of Dooars tea," he said. Another ITA office-bearer said: "Most tea gardens in the Dooars, including those owned by Duncans, have no takers. So the CM's plan comes as surprise to us. No stable tea firm would enter into a bad investment by buying up a Dooars tea garden." 

ITA secretary-general P K Bhattacharya said legal tangles are also an obstacle in any possible takeover. "No businessman wants to see his or her garden closed just like that. They do it when the situation goes out of hand. The frail economy of Dooars might be forcing them to do so," he said. 

An official of J Thomas & Co, the world's largest tea auctioneer, blamed it on the "myopic view of the Union government towards tea industry". However, the labourers' union in the region wants the Centre's intervention. "The CM may be saying this with an eye on the coming assembly polls. At least five gardens in Dooars and Darjeeling taken over by the state government in the past have been sold at throwaway prices, which brought little benefit for the hapless workers," said Jiaur Alam of the Citu-backed tea union.