Chennai, May 12 (IANS): The tea sector in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris, which is one of the robust tea sectors in the country, is to get a big boost after the state government sanctioned an amount of Rs 5 crore to the tea cooperatives in the district.

The sanction was given through a government order by the state industries department on May 11.

The state government transferred the amount of Rs 5 crore to the Tamil Nadu Small Tea Growers Industrial Cooperative Tea Cooperatives Federation (INDCOSERVE). This amount will be used to settle the dues to small tea growers in the Nilgiris pending till April 2022.

It may be noted that INDCOSERVE is the largest tea cooperative in India, accounting for the production of 13 million kg of tea bags annually.

There were reports that due to acute financial crisis, the quality of tea leaves procured was not good and the government has directed the INDCOSERVE to take immediate measures to improve it.

Sources in INDCOSERVE told IANS that with the amount sanctioned, urgent measures will be taken to settle the dues of all the farmers who have supplied tea leaves, and work will be initiated to ensure that the production is ramped up as well as quality is maintained at a higher standard.

The industries department had stated that the use of obsolete machinery and poor quality of tea leaves procured over the years led to a difficult situation for the cooperative tea factories.

With the grant provided by the state government, the INDCOSERVE, according to sources in the cooperatives, will direct the tea growers to improve the quality of tea leaves as well as maintain the machinery used in industrial tea factories for better outputs.