Calcutta, June 21: Small tea growers in Bengal are yet to receive their identity cards from the Tea Board even as their peers in Assam and Tamil Nadu have received theirs.

An identity card is equivalent to registration with the governing body.

The Left Front government in Bengal had banned the issue of no-objection certificates to all tea planters who came into the market after June 30, 2001.

However, in September 2013, the Tea Board had initiated a process of issuing identity cards to such small plantation owners. The process involved measurement of land at these estates and collecting data on annual production.

"Thousands of small tea growers have already been enumerated and their data-generated application forms have been sent for printing as well. Unfortunately, the Board has not issued a single identity card in Bengal though planters in Assam and Tamil Nadu have received theirs," said Partha Pratim Paul, chairman of the United Forum of Small Tea Growers Associations West Bengal.

"We had approached the Tea Board to look into the matter but they said that the procedure had been stalled because of funds crunch," said Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association.

However, the Tea Board has denied that a funds crunch has delayed the cards. The board claims that as it was issuing the cards to various states, including Assam and the tea growing states in south India, the process was taking time.

In 2013, the board had set a target of completing the whole exercise by October 2015.

Board officials said the cards for distribution in Bengal were already being printed in Assam and expected to arrive by next month.

The identity card will display the address of the grower along with the plantation area, phone number, bank account details, quantity and place of supply of green tea leaves and a registration number.