Rs 4,760 cr Special Purpose Tea Fund to be released for Asom

Guwahati, Mar 9 (UNI) The Tea Board of India and beneficiary tea planters will sign the first agreement for release of Rs 4,760 crore Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) on June 25 .

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh today said over 300 applications were received from tea planters with request for fund under the SPTF that is aimed at re-plantation and rejuvenation of aging tea bushes to increase the productivity and quality of tea.

Out of these applicants 200 are from Asom that contributes to over 55 per cent of the country's total tea production. About Rs 2,300 crore of the SPTF will be spent in the state alone during the next 15 years for replantation and rejuvenation of over 40 years old tea bushes, Mr Ramesh informed.

While 25 per cent of the fund will be used in tea estates in North Bengal, the rest 25 is meant for South Indian tea plantation during the next 15 years.

The STPF is expected to facilitate replantation and rejuvenation of tea crop over two lakh hectares of land all over the country and out of these one lakh hectare of tea producing land belonged to Upper Asom and Barak Valley.

He informed that about 800 tea gardens all over the country will be benefitted from the STPF which is likely to be implemented under the supervision of an exclusive monitoring committee within the Tea Board of India.

UNI