In view of the falling price situation, the Tea Board has finally released the subsidies that were pending for some time.
After releasing the subsidies, M Balaji, Tea Board’s Executive Director said that “To support the farmers and factories at the time of declining prices of made tea, the Board has released subsidy to 1,344 stakeholders to the tune of Rs. 4.46 crore in Southern India”.
Balaji added that “Of this, Rs. 2.10 crore was released to 1,091 small farmers under the Plantation Development Scheme while Rs. 1.70 crore has been released to 32 factories for producing orthodox teas. In addition, TANTEA has been provided with Rs. 26 lakh as subsidy for producing orthodox tea”.
He also informed that “Besides this, 132 children of the plantation workers have been offered with educational stipend worth Rs. 29 lakh and 87 children of the workers were provided Rs. 11 lakh under Schedule Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) component”.
It must be noted that the subsidy amount has been credited directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
Balaji also addressed a stakeholders’ meeting in Coonoor that was attended by the Tea Board Vice-Chairman, Mr. B Kumaran and Member, Mr. J Raman.
