TINSUKIA: The central committee of All Tai Asom Students’ Union (ATASU), in a memorandum to the Chairman, Tea Board of India, set a 7-day timeframe to resolve all impasses related to deadlock arising out of Bought Leaf Factory’s (BLFs) decision not to purchase green leaves from Small Tea Growers (STGs) from June 1. The Union threatened to launch democratic agitation if their demands were not fulfilled.
The charter of demands included that the BLFs should not be closed from June 1, and the prices of green leaves should not fall under any pretext. The Tea Board, in conjunction with FSSAI, should initiate establishing a testing lab in all tea-growing areas of Assam, and until then, the status quo should be maintained with respect to tea testing. The union leaders wondered as to why the FSSAI, a statutory body under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 that regulates the manufacture, storage, distribution, and sale of food articles, does not ban the hazardous chemicals used in tea. They demanded that these hazardous chemicals be banned and to initiate action against the traders.
The Tea Board should undertake mandatory testing of made tea, particularly the orthodox variety, manufactured by big companies under the Indian Tea Association that procure green tea leaves from STGs. stated the memo and added that the 3-month committee that the Tea Board of India constituted to evaluate the quality of tea included Ajoy Jalan, Director of Mukalbabi TE, whose tea failed to qualify FSSAI norms. The union demanded the removal of Jalan from the committee.
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