A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers Association (ABLTMA) held their annual general meeting followed by business-cum-cultural evening ‘Ek Shaam Chai Ke Saath’ to celebrate completion of thirty years, in the second capital of Assam and Tea City Dibrugarh on Saturday.
The AGM concluded with the mandate of the existing office bearers and executive committee members to continue for the term of 2025-2028, with Chand Kumar Gohain taking over as Chairman. During the course of the meeting, the family of Late CA Narendra Tibrewal of Dibrugarh was felicitated to recognize his contributions in the formation of ABLTMA and in the initial years.
The evening programme ‘Ek Shaam Chai Ke Saath’ began with the offering of shradhanjali to the victims and offering prayers for the surviving family members of the heinous terrorist attack in Pahalgam, in which twenty six citizens lost their lives.
Arunita Phukan Yadav, Executive Director of Tea Board of India, North Eastern Zonal Office, along with Dr Jesto George, Joint Director, FSSAI, Venkatesan Selvaraj, Director, Tea Research Association, Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah, former chairman of Tea Board of India, Bijaygopal Chakraborty, Advisor CISTA along with Chand Kumar Gohain and Gautam Beria as Chairman and Secretary of ABLTMA respectively, chaired the opening session. The lighting of the lamp was done by the dignitaries followed by the State Anthem.
The invited guests of honour were felicitated and the Executive Director addressed the gathering on various aspects of the Tea Industry and the challenges before the Industry.
Rameshbai Patel, leading Packeteer of Maharashtra, was awarded the Axom Binandini Award by ABLTMA for his support to Assam Teas Industry over the past fifty years. Padmashri Jadav Payeng, the Forest Man of India, was awarded the Prakriti Ratna Bota by ABLTMA for his immense contributions towards single-handedly creating a forest known as Molai at Jorhat.
Office bearers from Nilgiris Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers Association, North Bengal Tea Producers Welfare Association, and Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers Association announced that three associations have come together to form a national level-body, Federation of Indian Tea Manufacturers Association (FITMA), to jointly take up issues before the governments, Tea Board of India, and others for the overall benefit of Small Tea Growers and Bought Leaf Industry.
Deven Singh and Vikas Mandhania from ABLTMA were elected as the first Chairman and Secretary of the unified federation representing more than 525 factories collectively manufacturing 615 million kg of tea on an annual basis.
Deven Singh hosted the Townhall ‘Dil Se Bought Leaf Kal Aaj aur Kal’ with the leading packeteers of the country, Rajdeep Sikand from Tata Consumer Products Limited, Nilesh Choudhury from Hindustan Unilever Limited, Paras Desai from Wagh Bakri, Dhananjayan Krishnamoorty from Nilgiris, and Sanjay Dhanothi from North Bengal.
Deven Singh opened the Townhall giving statistics on the growth of BLFs from zero to approximately 55% in just forty years of the Indian Tea Industry. He requested participants to talk on the SWOT analysis of the Bought Leaf Industry and how the BLFs can emerge stronger in the coming years. Singh informed the gathering that the annual per capita consumption of tea in India is 862 grams, which is 50% of Pakistan and 25% of Turkey.
Deven Singh as Chairman of FITMA announced that the association shall join hands with Tea Board of India, leading packeteers and upcountry buyers to increase the tea consumption from 862 grams to 900 grams and then to 1000 grams, in a mission mode.
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