Kolkata, April 29 (IANS) The Tea Board of India has invited a fresh bids for taking over management of Demdima tea estate operating under Santipara Tea Company.
The move came after applicants did not fulfil the eligibility criteria given in the previous expression of interest (EoI).
In early February, the board invited the bids for taking over the management of the Demdima tea estate located in north Bengal.
"We had floated an EoI for taking over management of Demdima tea estate. The Board had given some eligibility conditions. The applicants who applied for did not fulfil the minimum eligibility condition given in the previous EoI," Tea Board chairman Santosh Kumar Sarangi told IANS.
Eligibility conditions are not relaxed in the fresh EoI, he said.
Santipara Tea Company is an associate of GP Goenka-controlled Duncan Industries.
"Santipara Tea Co. Ltd. was not managed by the estate management in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Tea Act, 1953, and the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, and was being run in a manner highly detrimental to the workers and tea industry," the bidding document said.
The Tea Board, which uploaded the notice of fresh EoI on its website on Thursday, said the EoI was issued with an intent to short-list potential bidders.
The bids will be evaluated in two stages -- technical and commercial, the bidding document said. Technical bid has as many as nine parameters, including turnover of the company, years of experience, availability of working capital and so on.
"Only those bidders who score a cut-off mark of 40 percent in the technical evaluation, their commercial bids will be opened," the document said.
"The annual turnover of the applicant should not be less than Rs.3.5 crore and the applicant should have sufficient working capital of not less than Rs.1.5 crore," it said.
The authorised person shall furnish performance security of Rs.1.5 crore in the form of a bank guarantee, it said.
The last date of submission of EoI is May 18 and the board will open the responses on same day.
