STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: To bail out the tea industry from the corona-induced slowdown, the State government has announced a slew of incentives that are set to cost the State exchequer around Rs 200 crore. The government has, however, made a plea to tea garden managements in the State to pay 20 per cent bonus to their workers before the Durga Puja.
One of the incentives is that the State government will bear 3 per cent interest subsidy for tea gardens that take loan as working capitals from commercial banks. However, the amount of subsidy from the State government can't go beyond Rs 20 lakh.
In order to encourage the production of orthodox tea in the State, the State government has also announced an incentive of Rs 7 against the production of each kg of orthodox tea. With the incentive of Rs 3 per kg of orthodox extended by the Tea Board of India (TBI), the total incentive for per kg of orthodox tea in the State is Rs 10.
The production of orthodox tea needs some machines. To augment the production of orthodox tea, the State government has announced that it will extend 25 per cent of the total cost of such machines as subsidy as and when tea gardens make such purchases.
Another incentive is that the State government has exempted the tea industry from paying agricultural income tax for the next three years.
Making announcements of all these lucrative incentives on Friday, State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "We're trying our best to bail out the tea industry from the current corona-induced slowdown. We hope the tea estates will pay 20 per cent bonus to their workers before the Durga Puja without any hassles. The State government has already taken a decision to pay 20 per cent bonus to the workers of all the ATC (Assam Tea Corporation) gardens before the Durga Puja."
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