Scores of distressed tea gardens in north Bengal are yet to get any money from the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) as banks have raised questions about the lease status of the gardens, according to minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh.
The SPTF, set up with a corpus of Rs 4,700 crore under the Tea Board. It was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in December 2006, to bail out ailing tea gardens by funding productivity improvements and replacement of ageing tea bushes.
?Out of the nearly 280 tea gardens in Bengal, we have received applications from 100 gardens, but disbursement is yet to begin as the banks want to ensure the lease status of the tea gardens,? Ramesh said.
On Saturday, Ramesh met West Bengal?s commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen and land & land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Molla, to discuss the status of the closed tea gardens and review an action plan.
Tea garden owners who have not renewed their lease or failed to keep the lease going are not eligible for aid under the SPTF.
?The Tea Board is going to give a list of the applicants for the SPTF and the list of their lease status within the next week to the state land reforms department, and the matter is going to be sorted out soon,? said Ramesh.
He said the SPTF was important for the tea industry in West Bengal, where 48% of the bushes are over 40 years old, against the national average of 38%.