In a relief to hundreds of former workers of the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA), Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday, November 17, ordered the allocation of housing tenements to 677 retired workers of TANTEA. The head office of the corporation in Coonoor saw huge celebrations following the announcement, as many of the retired workers were earlier forced to leave their homes and find alternative living arrangements in the absence of government-provided housing.
In a release, the Chief Minister mentioned that beneficiary contributions for all the tenements will be borne by the state government. As per the statement, each house costs Rs 14 lakh and the beneficiary contribution for this allocation comes to around Rs 13.46 crore. The Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board has already constructed nearly 573 houses for retired TANTEA workers and will be handed over to the beneficiaries soon, the statement added.
TANTEA corporation was founded in 1976 to rehabilitate Sri Lankan Tamil repatriates who returned to India as per the Sirima-Shastri pact, under which 3.5 lakh Tamils were granted citizenship by Sri Lanka and about 5.25 lakh Tamils were repatriated to India. Currently, TANTEA has 3,569 permanent workers and 220 temporary labourers.
The management of TANTEA became a political issue recently, as the Tamil Nadu government decided to hand over nearly 5,317 acres of tea estate land to the forest department for reforestation, citing losses in the running TANTEA. The Tamil Nadu government also claimed that this decision will reduce the lease/rent liability of the corporation by Rs 5.98 crore per year.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (AIADMK) interim general secretary Edappadi K Palanisamy demanded the state government take back its decision. While AIADMK's coordinator (deposed) O. Panneerselvam said this decision is exposing the inefficiency of the government to run the TANTEA corporation.
Bharatiya Janata Party state president K Annamalai on November 16 said that BJP will stage a protest march in Gudalur on November 20, to protest the transfer of TANTEA land to the forest department in the Nilgiris district.