Guwahati, Oct 19: Assam government today expressed that it was determined to work on the improvement of tea estates in the state where it shoulders the social responsibilities.

Making a presentation on the proposed draft of the new Tea Policy of Assam, state’s Industries and Commerce Minister, Bimal Bora flagged various key components of the proposed draft policy that included replacements of old plants and machinery , financial assistance for opening tea boutiques, new blending and packaging industries, participating in trade fairs national and international, Quality Certification for ISO/HACCP, Organic Tea Certification of the factory, export support for sending tea directly from Assam to Overseas Country etc.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Assam today convened a meeting to garner the view and suggestions on the proposed draft on the Tea policy of Assam. Representatives of various Plantations Associations attended the meeting.

In reaction to the minister’s presentation, the Secretary General Tea Association of India (TAI), P K Bhattacharjee, lauded the exemplary initiative of the Assam government and stated that the utmost task before the industry was to increase the per capita consumption of tea.

He stated that since Assam contributes more than 50% of the country's production, the responsibility to upscale the quantity of consumption therefore weighed heavily on the Assam tea industry and sought for a proactive policy towards this objective.

The TAI official also urged the Assam government to integrate the various schemes under the national flagship schemes in the proposed Tea Policy of Assam. Concepts like flexible employment, code of wages, occupational safety and health code were cited as the legal provisions to be relied upon.  With regards to generic promotions of tea, TAI urged the government to build up a corpus through which such activities could be initiated.

A case was made for initiating a vigorous incentive to attain a better product mix that could generate more value addition to the tea industry.
Dinesh Bihani, Secretary, Guwahati Tea Auction Buyers’ Association, stated that at present Tea blending and packaging units are not covered under Assam Industrial Policy. Hence most of the packeters purchase the teas from Assam and packet it in their States.

Hence, if the Assam government gives a conditional exemption of (Assam Tea purchased and blended and packaging units established in Assam) they will be entitled to get all the benefits of Industrial policy. This will bring huge investment, create employment and development of infrastructure and will create a goodwill impacting higher price realization of Assam tea.

Bihani also stated that in order to attract more teas to the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTCA) and make it the world's largest auction centre, the government should make policies which incentivize good tea producers and encourage them to sell their produce through Guwahati Auctions.
He suggested the Assam government should give subsidy to CTC teas selling at an average of Rs 300 plus per kg in the auctions as this will attract a large number of CTC gardens to GTAC.

 Additionally, he said, warehouse subsidies and transport subsidies should be given to buyers so that all the stakeholders are benefitted.