CAG report slams Tea Board for lacunae in ops

Kolkata: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in a report tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday, came down heavily on the gross operational lacunae and under-performance in regulatory, developmental, research, market promotion, financial management activities of the agro-industry regulator. The report has laid bare the fact that as much as 46% of total tea cultivation areas of big tea growers in India were not economically viable as their tea bushes were more than 40 years old and have been commercially unproductive.The CAG report named “Role of The Tea Board of India in Development of Tea in India” wrote that the overall productivity had fallen from 2,165 kg/ hectare in 2016-17 to 2,016 kg/ hectare in 2020-21.Reacting to the report, Saurav Pahari, chairman of the Tea Board, told TOI: “We shall go over it in detail.”The performance audit for the period FY17-FY21, has found that as much as 38% of the small tea growers’ (STG) segment, which currently produces over 50% of India’s output, is not registered as of March 2021 and out of the Tea Board’s regulatory ambit “in absence of a well-defined strategy for identification and registration”. The report added that planting permits were granted to the STGs without necessary compliance (like soil testing) and inspection).The premier STG body, Cista, led by its president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, admitted that the issues raised by CAG are serious. “However, in all cases, the Board cannot be blamed alone. All problems should be solved.”The report has also found inadequate quality inspection in factories, non-collection of planting permit fee and tea samples from manufacturing units are leading to “revenue loss and poor monitoring”. Also the minimum e-auction threshold limit of 50% of the total tea manufactured by each estate could not be achieved by the registered producers in any of the years covered under audit.Former Tea Board chairman Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah feels that such anomalies are bound to happen when funding and manpower in an organization are reduced drastically, while having a multiplicity of schemes. “The Board should focus on promotion of tea for increasing consumption, and ensuring quality and compliance parameters are satisfied. It should exit the auction management and subsidy roles, and stop acting as a regulator for research bodies,” he said.According to the report, the Board’s initiative for promotion of tea through social media platforms was grossly inconsistent and no major initiative for publicity through social media was taken during the reporting period.The government auditor postulated that the Board should have an authentic database regarding areas of extensions of tea plantations, replacement and replanting of tea, age of bushes, district-wise yield, and labour productivity rate for proper policy-making. “The Board has the wherewithal and needs to be more focused in being a facilitator instead of a regulator,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal advisor, Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA).