Guwahati, July 15: The Assam Trinamool Congress has strongly condemned the decision of the state government to lease out 12 of the 15 tea gardens of Assam Tea Corporation Limited, a state-owned public sector undertaking, which has been incurring heavy losses for several years.
The state government has floated the lease tender from July 2, 2022, and the process will continue till July 25, 2022.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Assam Trinamool Congress’ media department chairman Dilip Kumar Sarma minced no words to criticise the chief minister, saying that “that the government’s decision to lease out the 12 gardens of ATCL cannot be termed an achievement by any means… nor does it imply how able our chief minister is.”
“The gardens owned by the state corporation have a history of their own and are linked to people’s emotions and sentiments and their way of life. Hence, we strongly condemn such a decision to lease out the state’s resources (public sector) to the hands of industrialists for 30 years at a throwaway price of Rs 35 crore,” Sarma stated.
The party spokesperson further questioned the inability of the governments – eight years of BJP rule at the Centre and six years of BJP-led government in Assam – to revive the loss-making corporation into a profit-making entity.
“More so, when the private sector has come forward to take over the management to revive the ATCL gardens, why could not the government do the same over the past several years?” he asked.
“The chief minister should therefore clarify whether the state government has run short of funds for governance or whether the ATCL-owned gardens have gone broke,” Sarma stated.
He further asserted that the government “needs to also clarify how it can generate employment or garner resources if it keeps selling or closing down state-owned public sector undertakings.”
It may be noted that 15 tea gardens under ATCL have been incurring losses amounting to crores of rupees every year.
The 12 tea gardens to be leased out are Amluckie, Deejuvalley, Loongsong, Sycotta, Naginijan, Messamara, Rungamatty, Negheriting, Rajabarie, Deepling, Longai and Ishabheel tea gardens.
Out of the remaining three tea gardens, Bholaguri tea garden in the Biswanath Charliali district and Cinnamara in the Jorhat district will be developed as heritage properties while Bidyanagar tea garden in Barak Valley will continue functioning.
The government will, however, retain the ownership rights of the 12 tea gardens and only the management will be leased out.
According to reports, the liabilities of these tea gardens, including PF and gratuity of the employees and labourers, have accumulated over the years, amounting to several crores of rupees.
Despite several attempts by the government to revamp the tea gardens, they have been in vain.
It may be mentioned that the state unit of Aam Aadmi Party had also slammed the move as “short-sighted,” while urging the government to take urgent measures for revival of the tea gardens.