Tamil Nadu BJP to protest against transferring TANETA to Forest department

Chennai, Nov 17 (IANS) The BJP's Tamil Nadu unit will be conducting a protest march on Sunday against the decision of the state government to transfer the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA) in The Nilgiris to the forest department.

Tamil Nadu BJP state president K. Annamalai on Wednesday said the protest would be conducted at Gudalur in The Nilgiris district.

Transferring TANTEA to the Tamil Nadu forest department would lead to several repatriated Tamil's losing their jobs, Annamalai said in a statement.

Annamalai said that more than 15,000 families who were repatriated from Sri Lanka under the Sirimavo -Shashtri pact of 1964 were dependent on TANTEA for their livelihood.

The BJP leader said that the move to transfer the land was against the political stand taken by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin before the elections. He said that the DMK had promised to regularise the temporary workers of TANTEA.

The Tamil Nadu government had recently stated that it would save Rs 5.98 crore every year by transferring TANTEA to the forest department, he pointed out, adding that the government was taking such a decision only to save a nominal amount.