TN official assures roadmap for plantation sector

Steps would be taken to address the demands of the plantation sector in Tamil Nadu such as permission for use of plantation land for cultivation of medicinal plants, state Principal Labour and Employment Secretary Sunil Paliwal assured Monday.

Addressing the 65th annual conference of the Planters Association of Tamil Nadu here, Paliwal said he would work on evolving a roadmap to address various issues faced by them.

The official said he would consider the demand for allowing the use a portion of their plantation land for cultivation of vanilla and medicinal crops.

He said the state should have a law like Kerala had to utilise about five per cent of the plantation land for non-plantation activities.

Also, he promised to consider other demands, including those related to professional tax and property tax.

He assured to take up with Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan the request for activating the co-ordinating committee comprising secretaries of Labour, Forest and Revenue departments, set up to facilitate discussions on issues affecting the plantation sector and suggest relief measures.

The association earlier said the committee had not met for several years.

Besides, he would also seek inclusion of principal secretaries of some other related departments in the panel, the official said.

He asked the planters to coordinate with the agricultural department, municipal corporations and local administration to redress their grievances that include spending for health care of workers and education of their children.

Earlier, association vice-chairman Sakher Nagarajan said the state had a planted area of 1.41 lakh hectares with 1.2 lakh growers and two lakh workers.

But, the sector was facing a mismatch between the cost of production and price of the products, he said.