Small tea growers in north Bengal have written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, requesting her to ensure they get no-objection certificates (NOC) for tea cultivation on their land from the state land and land reforms department.

This official recognition will enable them access to the benefits of state and central schemes, they have said.

Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the president of Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (Cista), said there were over 50,000 small tea growers in north Bengal who contribute around 62 per cent of the tea produced in Bengal.

“However, only a few of us have the NOC that the state government had issued around 20 years back. As most growers do not have NOC of the land on which they run their plantations, they do not have official recognition and are bereft of various benefits of state and central governments,” Chakraborty said.

He said that way back in 2001, the then Left Front government of Bengal had announced that growers who had set up their plantations ahead of June 30, 2001, were the only ones eligible for the NOC. Accordingly, 7,435 growers of the region could get NOC from the state.

Sources said recently, the BJP government in neighbouring Assam had come up with a decision to issue free NOCs to growers with land holdings up to 10 bighas. There are around one lakh small tea growers in Assam.

In Bengal, small tea plantations are spread over districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur.

Growers have also said that if the Bengal government starts issuing NOCs, it would also boost the state exchequer. Growers will have to pay conversion and mutation charges of their land to the government.

In their letter to Mamata, growers also requested her to see if the state could extend certain schemes meant for traditional farmers to the sector.

“We have also urged the chief minister for a short meeting during her upcoming visit to north Bengal so that we can apprise her in detail about the sector and its issues that provides jobs to around 25 lakh people in the region,” Chakraborty said.

“We are first-generation entrepreneurs and all those associated with the sector are local residents of north Bengal. Small tea growers, workers who serve these plantations and others in the sector are from various communities, including Rajbanshis, tribals and Muslims,” added the Cista president.

With these demands coming a few months ahead of state elections, the Mamata Banerjee government needs to mull over them, considering the large number of people involved in the sector, political observers have said.

“Several rural pockets have emerged as hubs of small tea growers. Now that many have learnt that NOC is being issued by the BJP government in Assam, they expect a similar move from the Bengal government. Also, BJP leaders here will take no time in flagging the issue and giving assurances to growers. It will be interesting to see how the chief minister and her party handle the demand,” said an observer.