Reopening of N Bengal tea gardens hangs fire

SILIGURI: TEA gardens closure was a major election issue in North Bengal. The situation remains unchanged even now. Even an alternative shown by the Congress failed to yield results.

Former Union commerce minister of state Jairam Ramesh had proposed workers cooperatives as a condition for the reopening of 14 closed tea gardens in the region.

"Durgabari, a tea garden in Tripura, is doing excellently under this system. We must try it out here too. Both the Centre as well as the state government would provide support to these cooperatives," Mr Ramesh had said.

The proposal was appreciated by senior members of the Consultative Committee for Plantation Associations, Indian Tea Board and even major trade unions like Citu and Intuc. The Congress made it a major campaign issue in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Despite the announcement, not a single garden saw any serious initiative towards setting up cooperatives. Even after appreciating the concept, Citu leaders afterwards did not hesitate to label the concept as "impossible in North Bengal".

From the entrepreneur���s side too, "Cooperatives are not likely to succeed here", said N K Basu, principal advisor, Indian Tea Planters Association. He, however, said the Tata Model of garden ownership with workers��� participation could be a better alternative.

The only initiative to form a cooperative took place in Chamurchi Garden. But that too did not get any government backup. "Since the garden found a new owner, the government did not support a cooperative. But in reality, the ownership transfer issue is not transparent and the garden is not at all on track," said Mr S Roy, convener of the defence committee.