Govt invites bids for control of four ailing tea gardens

KOLKATA : The commerce ministry has finally kicked off the process of handing over management control of sick tea estates in the country by invoking Section 16(E) of the Tea Act, 1953. Tea Board, on behalf of the commerce ministry, has invited bids from interested parties who are keen to take over four gardens ��� two in West Bengal and two in Kerala.

This is for the first time the central government is invoking Section 16 (E) of the Tea Act, 1953, which allows the government to hand over management control to a new party if the garden remains closed for more than three months.

Tea Board has decided to invite bids for Chinchula and Bamandanga Tondoo tea estates in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal and Peermade and Lone Tree estates in Idukki district of Kerala. At present, Chinchula is owned by Shimansu Vyaparik Kendra and Bamandanga Tondoo by Tondoo Tea Company. Peermade and Lone Tree tea estates are owned by Peermade Tea Company.
When contacted, Tea Board director (tea development) G Boriah told ET: ���The bids will remain open till March 5, 2008. Already a couple of interested parties have sent feelers to us.���

In the last one year, the Union minister of state for commerce Mr Jairam Ramesh has made repeated attempts to reopen closed gardens through the process of negotiation with existing owners. But some owners have either skipped the meetings or failed to come up with a revival scheme. Incidentally, the commerce ministry has consulted the law ministry before taking a decision to invite bids for the these tea estates so that the existing promoters cannot create problems in handing over the management control to some new party.

The commerce ministry has also set some key parameters for those who are keen to take over tea estates. Boriah said the annual turnover of the applicant firm/company should not be less than Rs 10 crore and the working capital should not be less than Rs 10 crore.

To establish credit worthiness, the companies should submit along with their application balance sheet and audited accounts of the company for the previous three years. The company should not also have defaulted in the payment of statutory dues. It should be financially sound and capable of infusion of funds for the management of the gardens.