BJP Tea Morcha seeks probe into sale of tea gardens

Guwahati, June 10: Mc Leod Russel India Limited, one of the leading tea companies of India, which till recently owned 47 tea estates in Assam sold away 12 tea estates to MK Sah Export and Lakshmi Tea Company.

Significantly, the Tea Morcha of the State BJP is suspicious about the bona fides of the transaction and has demanded of the Assam Government for the exact details of the transaction between the buyer and the seller. The Morcha has also asked for a thorough probe by the government as to why Mc Leod Russel India Limited sold away the tea gardens.

The gardens that have been sold away are mainly located in the Doomdooma and Moran area of upper Assam. The gardens are Bisakopi, Raidang, Doimukhia, Samdang, Baghjan, Bordubi, Khumsang, Filobari, Lepetkota, Athabari, Moran and Sepon TE.

Tea Morcha president Prahlad Gowala said that in the wake of the sale, about 50,000 workers are in the midst of uncertainty in the matter of their employment. He said that over the years, the workers had put in all their toil and swat for the healthy growth of the company.

Mc Leod Russel India Limited has forwarded the excuse that it was compelled to resort to selling away the gardens due to huge loss suffered by it for years. However, it is alleged that all the gardens were profit making units.

Hence, the Morcha has demanded that in its quest for the truth, the government should intervene and make the seller answerable or else many more such gardens making profit would meet with the same fate.

Gowala further said that despite such huge transaction having taken place, the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh (ACMS) has maintained silence over the matter. He asked ACMS leader Pawan Singh Ghotowar to make his position clear on the matter.

The Morcha also plans to meet the Chief Minister and submit a memorandum in this respect.