GUWAHATI, June 22 - The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) today demanded proper inquiry into the shady deals concerning the sanction of a whopping amount of Rs 1,200 crore as bank loan to a leading tea company of the State, which has now declared itself bankrupt and the deals made by another leading tea company to sell off eight of its tea estates located in the State.
The party, in a statement, jointly issued by its vice presidents Bolin Bordoloi and Bhagirath Karan, here this evening, alleged that the management of the Assam Company, which has been operating in the State since the 18th century, has made their tea estates suffer huge financial losses and pushed the tea estates to the brink of bankruptcy.
By this time, the tea company has been able to fraudulently obtain a whopping amount of Rs 1,200 crore as loan from some banks. The tea company has mortgaged its 14 tea gardens to secure the said amount of bank loan.
But the loan amount the company obtained is 90 per cent more than the value of the mortgaged gardens. The role of the State government in this respect is also not clear so far, said the APCC in its statement.
After declaring the company bankrupt, the fate of its 35,000 workers and over 5,000 other employees is hanging in the balance. It is alleged by knowledgeable circles that the company has siphoned off its profits to other sectors.
Again, another prominent tea company the McLeod Russell too has completed all procedures for selling eight tea estates located in the State, citing financial losses as the reason. This is despite the fact that the company has been making substantial profit with production of 10.5 million tons of tea from its gardens. The abrupt decision of the company to sell off its eight gardens raises a question as to the intention of the company.
The company has 11,000 workers and employees and no proper provision has been made about their fate in the post ownership transfer period.
It is learnt that the McLeod Russell gardens have been purchased by a Gujarat-based company MK Shah & Company. This has raised more doubts over the entire deal for selling the tea gardens.
The APCC said that the land of the tea gardens belong to the State government and they are occupying the land on lease only for the purpose of tea plantation. Therefore, there cannot be transfer of ownership of sale as mooted by the two companies without the consent of the State government.
