Jorhat, May 30: Andrew Yule, a government of India enterprise, has offered to manage at least four gardens of the sick Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL).

Andrew Yule has 15 tea gardens producing about 10 million-kg of premium quality tea in Assam, where it has six estates, and in Darjeeling and the Dooars.

The estates in Assam are Rajgarh, Murphulani, Tingkong, Basmatia, Khowang and Hoolungooree.

The chairman-cum-managing director of the company, Kallol Dutta, told The Telegraph over phone from Calcutta that they had offered to manage four gardens — Deepling, Cinnamara, Sycotta and Negheriting — of ATCL but there has been no response from the Assam government till now.

The offer was made about a year back and was repeated recently to the chief secretary of Assam, Naba Kumar Das, Dutta said.

“Since both the companies are public sector undertakings it would not be difficult to take over the management of these ATCL gardens. We believe that there is tremendous scope for revival of these gardens,” Dutta said.

While ATCL is a state PSU, Andrew Yule is a central PSU.

Dutta said the company has selected these particular gardens since the company already has its own gardens in Jorhat, Sivasagar and Golaghat districts, where these ATCL gardens are located.

Dutta said that if the deal comes through, Andrew Yule would run these gardens bearing all expenses and take the produce in return. If required, the company will also invest in re-plantation but will not take over any past liability, he said.

Industry sources said the offer by Andrew Yule was the best that could have come for the ATCL gardens, which were once considered to be “gold mines” but were going through a rough patch because of poor management.

“Andrew Yule gardens are among the best managed in Assam and we feel that the takeover would do a world of good to ATCL at this juncture,” a veteran tea planter and additional vice-chairman of Tea Research Association, Prabhat Bezboruah, said.

Work in all the 15 gardens owned by ATCL had come to a standstill by 2004. The government had also offered to sell off the gardens to private parties. However, there was little response primarily because of the corporation’s liabilities which stood at Rs 144 crore in 2002. The company was, however, revived in 2005 with the government pumping in funds. It had carried out re-plantation in 400 hectares since its rejuvenation in 2005.

The revenue of the company has been increasing since its revival with various new initiatives taken by the government. ATCL sources said turnover of the company was Rs 14 crore in 2005 and had increased to Rs 36 crore in 2009 and reached Rs 48 crore in 2012. However, it is not enough, going by the company’s liabilities and the huge workforce it has to take care of.

The total plantation area of all ATCL gardens is 7,000 hectares and 15,000 workers are employed. Harish Sonowal, ATCL vice-chairman-cum director, said there was opposition to the idea of privatising the state-owned company but it would be a different matter if the Centre took over.

“These are gardens located on prime tea land and if they are properly managed they can definitely yield huge profits. Sycotta tea estate of the company in Jorhat, for example, has many hectares of fallow land where new tea bushes could be planted. But with the government shying away from investing, it is going to waste,” he said.

Echoing Sonowal, secretary of the Jorhat unit of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh, the apex body of the tea garden workers in Assam, N. Gond, said they have no objection if a company like Andrew Yule took over the gardens. “The state government has not been able to run the company well and as such the workers are suffering. The takeover will do good at least for the workforce,” he said.

Gond said chief minister Tarun Gogoi has also recently conceded the government’s inability to pump in more funds for the ailing corporation.