CHENNAI: Taking strong exception to the transfer of 5,317 acres of tea estates owned by the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (Tantea) to the State Forest Department, Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday demanded that the G.O. regarding the transfer should be withdrawn since over 15,000 workers depended on them.
Tantea was established during former Chief Minister CN Annadurai’s tenure, in 1968, as a rehabilitation measure for Sri Lanka-returned Tamils.
Palaniswami referred to the measures taken by the AIADMK regimes to increase Tantea’s revenue and initiatives taken for the welfare of its workers and said the workers claimed that the incumbent forest minister owned hundreds of tea estates in The Nilgiris and that he transferred tea estates to the forest department for selfish motives.
He said the livelihood of the workers has been affected by the transfer.