Issues afflicting tea industry: North Eastern Tea Association seeks Dispur's intervention at it's Biennial General Meeting

Guwahati: The 21st Biennial General Meeting (BGM) of the North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) was held in Guwahati recently, when NETA chairman Kamal Jalan touched upon many issues plaguing the tea industry. He sought the intervention of the state government on two key issues plaguing the industry in the state.

Jalan mentioned that continuous losses have eroded the finances of the tea estates, and for any meaningful investment, either bank loans or investments have to be tapped. However, as of now, 5% of land cannot be mortgaged to financial institutions or lenders or investors. Therefore, he urged the state government to immediately amend the existing land laws so as to change the classification to commercial land and allow the mortgage or lease of such converted land. Otherwise, he said, the whole exercise will remain on paper and not involve any investments, as no lender or investor will participate in any of the specified projects without the security of the land on which the projects are coming up.

He also urged the government of Assam to provide Bharat rice at a subsidised rate to the tea garden managements so that they can pass the commodity on to the workers. Mentioning that the prices of food grains have been on the rise and that the price graph will always go up, he added that it has become very difficult for tea garden management to buy food grains at such high prices and give them to workers. He mentioned that the West Bengal government gives foodgrains to tea garden workers, and in Assam, ideally, the managements should be relieved of providing foodgrains to workers. However, after several rounds of discussions, no solution was in sight, so he sought help from the CM regarding this matter.

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