Tea groups decide to unitedly fight common issues plaguing tea industry

A CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH: At a time when Assam’s tea industry is all set to celebrate its completion of 200 years, a conglomerate of tea organizations, namely Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers Association (ABLTMA), All Assam Small Tea Growers Association (AASTGA), Bharatiya Cha Parishad (BCP), and North Eastern Tea Association (NETA), has decided to unitedly fight for common issues plaguing the industry.

The organizations held a joint meeting at the Gymkhana Club in Dibrugarh, during which issues like drastic drop in prices of green leaves, which have severely affected the small tea growers of the state were discussed among others.

Addressing the media after the meeting, the organizations also raised their concerns on the issue of the use of banned chemicals and pesticides by a section of the growers, which have resulted in bringing in bad name for Assam tea.

The speakers also stressed upon the need for a complete overhaul of the Tea Board of India since, according to them, it had completely failed to fulfill its objectives. The associations also demanded that data related to export and import of tea should be made available in public domain. Cheap tea from countries like Kenya, Nepal, and some African countries are being shipped to India taking advantage of free trade regime and blended and exported as India or Assam tea, they alleged.

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