The tea board has told the owners of closed gardens to explain within October 16 why the Centre should not take over their estates by invoking Section 16 (E) of the Tea Act of 1953.
The owners have already missed two earlier deadlines (in August and September), though this is the first time that they have been showcaused.
“We are not sitting idle,” Union minister of state for commerce and industry Jairam Ramesh told The Telegraph yesterday. “Showcause notices have been served to them (the owners) on October 5 and if they do not respond within the specified date (October 16), we will go ahead with the acquisition.”
Section 16 (E) allows the Centre to take over the management of a tea estate and give it to another entrepreneur without any inquiry if the garden remains closed for three months or more.
The minister, who was on a two-day tour of north Bengal, added that the showcause notices ask for specific information from the owners. “Like what liabilities they have, how they plan to settle their provident fund dues, the discussions they have had with the trade unions, whether they have found new investors and when they can reopen their gardens,” Ramesh explained.
From bankers, the tea board has asked for an assessment of the capacities of the existing owners, viability of the gardens, possibility of financial restructuring and details of liabilities.
“We cannot say that the gardens will open before the Pujas but there will certainly be a major change in the next one month,” Ramesh said.
Fox Mandal, a Calcutta-based law firm, has been also asked to draft an advertisement seeking expression of interest from entrepreneurs willing to take over acquired tea estates. “Some prerequisites will also be mentioned in the advertisement to be released in various newspapers,” Ramesh said.
The minister added that the board has received at least five proposals from new entrepreneurs, including some “big tea companies” and “local businessmen”.
For the 18,000-odd workers of the 13 closed gardens in north Bengal, Ramesh announced a festival grant of Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 per family. “The money will definitely be disbursed before Diwali.”
Source: The Telegraph
Estate acquisition by government if owner doesn't respond
Posted by darj at 10:46 AM Labels: closed tea estate, closed tea gardens
A tea-laden truck fell off the army-built Krupman bridge on the Sudani at Domohani late last night, blocking traffic on NH34 for a couple of hours.
Prompt action by the army jawans posted at the site saved the driver and the cleaner. The vehicle, however, is still in the river.
The army said the truck, travelling from Siliguri to Calcutta, probably weighed more than 25 tonnes, the permissible limit for vehicles wanting to cross the floating bridge. Following the accident, cracks have appeared in three of the beams of the bridge’s mainframe.
The project-in-charge of the bridge, Lt Col. Kumar Abhishek, said the truck had crossed over to the other side and was climbing up the bank when it stopped and slid back on to the bridge. It careened to the left side of the causeway and hit the beams placed on the rafts under the bridge before toppling over.
“The noise of the crash alerted the jawans manning the bridge. They rushed in and rescued the driver and the cleaner,” Abhishek said.
There is a fear that the cracks caused by the accident might widen if vehicles weighing more than 25 tonnes keep crossing the bridge.
In the past, trucks appearing to be heavier than that have had to be allowed to pass because the slips issued by nearby weighbridges showed their weight to be less than 25 tonnes. To solve the problem, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had installed axle pads, or portable weighing machines, on both sides of the bridge to double-check the weight of vehicles. But recently the NHAI took away the pads.
“As a result, we cannot challenge any truck even if we are sure that it is overloaded,” an army source said.
Project director of the NHAI’s Malda division, Srikumar Bhattacharya, said axle pads could not be a permanent solution.
“However, we shall install them at the site once more,” Bhattacharya said.
Source: The Telegraph
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