Jiten opposes tea board initiative in Assam

Agartala, Jul 18, 2012 : Tripura government has firmly opposed the recent initiative of Tea Board to shift its zonal office in northeast from Guwahati to Jorhat in upper Assam and opening of a new directorate for small tea growers at Dibrugarh. The industry minister of state Jiten Chowdhury has sought urgent intervention of union commerce minister Anand Sharma to abort the move . In a recent letter to the union minister, Jiten has pointed out the difficulties which tea growing zones of northeast including Tripura will face. 'What I have demanded in my letter to the union minister for commerce is that the zonal headquarter of Tea Board in northeast be retained in Guwahati and consultations held among all tea growing states regarding location of the directorate for small tea growers' said Jiten , adding that the Tea Board has arrived at this decision unilaterally with seeking opinion of other tea-growing states.

He said that Dibrugarh and Jorhat in Assam were not as well connected with other parts of northeast as Guwahati and shifting of Tea Board's regional headquarter at Jorhat and directorate for small tea growers in Jorhat and Dibrugarh will create lot of problems for Tripura and other tea-producing areas of the region. Resenting the aribitrary decision taken by the Tea Board Jiten said tea sector in Tripura comprising 57 functional tea gardens spread over West, South, Dhalai and North Tripura districts of the state and over four thousand small tea growers were reeling under many problems and the shifting of the headquarter from Guwahati to Jorhat and setting up of the directorate for small tea growers in Dibrugarh will only worsen the situation by putting further stress on the tea industry in Tripura.

'It seems the Tea Board has taken this decision keeping in view the interests of the tea industry in Assam, no objection to Assam's interests being protected but why should we suffer? The decision has been taken keeping all other tea-producing states in the dark' said Jiten. Citing Tripura's contribution to the tea sector, he said that the cumulative production of tea in Tripura in 2011 had reached 4.7 million KG. He specially lashed out at the decision to set up a separate directorate for small tea growers at Dibrugarh , asserting that such a directorate should be located , keeping in view the overall interest of all small tea growers in the country. 'What the Tea Board should bear in mind is that besides northeast, the states south India, West Bengal and even Himachal Pradesh have lot of small tea growers and the Board should ensure that interests of all are equally protected when a separate directorate is launched; the location of the directorate in Dibrugarh will create more problems for the small tea growers in the country than it will solve' said Jiten. 

He has urged upon the union minister for commerce to prevail upon the Tea Board to reverse its decision by retaining the regional headquarter in Guwahati and by selecting a place for locating the new directorate for small tea growers. 'We should have the new directorate in a place which is well connected with all tea growing states by rail, road and air ; the town of Dibrugarh in Assam cannot provide such connectivity and the decision should be revised immediately in the interest of small tea growers across the country' Jiten told Anand Sharma in his letter.