The Hindu Business Line : Reopened tea estates’ power connection cut

Vandiperiyar (Kerala), March 17 The Ram Bahadur Thakur Group I tea estates which were reopened after lying closed for seven years continue to face uncertainty as power supply to its tea factories have been discontinued. “Electricity connection to our tea factories would bring light and succour to the lives of 1,300 workers of the tea estates at Vandiperiyar,” Mr T Justin, Assistant Officer at the tea factory said. The machinery at the factories continue to lie idle for the past several months, even after the 4,200 acre tea estate was re-opened in August 2007.

“Though our priority remains to be wages, we understand the problems confronting the management and want the electricity connection restored,” echoed women workers like Ms Sujatha, Ms Susheela, Ms Amruthavally, Ms Velamma from RBT estates such as Nellickai and Manjumalai. Though the management had promised that their wages would be paid on the 14th of every month, the management is constrained to delay salaries by a fortnight. However, the workers acknowledge the problems faced by the management in the absence of the power connection, which have negated the value addition and profit margins due to the company.

“Every day I am losing around Rs 68,000 in wages that I pay to the workers of Manjumalai, Pambanar, Thengakal and Nellickai estates, which together adds up close to Rs 20 lakh every month,” Mr Manoj Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of the RBT Group I said.

“The women workers pluck around 12,000 kg of green leaves from the four estates of RBT Group I, which is then sold to other tea factories in the vicinity at Rs 7-8 per kg. Every four kg of green leaves can be converted into one kg of tea at the factories which on an average fetched Rs 60, which is where the value addition and profits come in. Without the electricity connection we are stumped,” Mr Sharma said.

“We pluck around 20-22 kg of green leaves every day, which would go up to 40 kg during the peak period. Earlier, when the estates were closed we would get just a paltry Rs 2-3 per kg of leaf plucked, which has now gone up to Rs 8 per kg,” Ms Anthony Amma and Ms Saramma of Manjumalai estate said.

Though the disorganised workers could not negotiate a better price when the estate remained closed, the global plunge in commodity prices also took a toll, resulting in low returns of these workers, Mr Ravikumar, Assistant Manager of RBT, said.

Workers like Ms Sujatha and Ms Susheela of Nellickai estate recalled the seven horrible years when the estates remained closed, their regular work and wages dried up and the men and womenfolk took up any odd job available, road repair, stone quarrying or any other work that came their way to keep their children at school and keep their hearths burning. “We do not want to go back to those days again. Only forward, to ensure that the estates remain open and we get our wages,” they said while strenuously working to revive the tea plantations which are now over-laden with lantana weeds. Bringing these tea bushes back to productivity is a Herculean task, they confessed but they were still game for it, they said.

Mr Sharma said he had paid all the dues to the Kerala State Electricity Board for the period when the estates remained closed. The power connection was revived for a few days; but this proved to be a passing grace as the Board disconnected power connection citing flimsy reasons, he claimed.

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