Agartala: Chairman of Tripura Tea Development Corporation Samir Ranjan Ghosh on Wednesday promised that the state’s first tea auction centre, which is set to come up at Pandit Nehru Complex, Agartala, will enable the tea sellers of the state to access the market without any brokerage.
Ghosh also informed the media persons that Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha would unveil the foundation stone of the auction centre on Thursday.
“If the things move on right track, the center will be made operational by the end of this year. The Tripura Tea Development Corporation has ramped up its preparedness to extend logistic facilities such as warehousing,” Ghosh told media persons at a press briefing at the TTDC office.
The body constituted to work for the progress of the tea industry extended sincere thanks to Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving the much-awaited project.
“The demand for a tea auction center in Tripura is long overdue. In the absence of that, sellers of our state are compelled to stay dependent on auction centers of Guwahati and Kolkata. The previous system was not cost-effective for our tea growers. First of all, the transportation cost is exponentially high, and a hefty amount needs to be paid for brokerage. In our tea auction center, TTDC will look after everything. For Tripura growers, we shall not charge any brokerage fee,” Ghosh clarified.
Ghosh also maintained that the documentation process to kick-start the auction centre is just completed.
“Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha during a meeting of the NITI Aayog raised the topic and drew the Centre’s attention towards the tea industry of Tripura, which is the lone century-old industry that is surviving till date. The central government approved the proposal, and we are standing at the threshold of a historic moment,” he added.
According to data quoted by Ghosh, Tripura has a total of 54 private tea estates and 23 cooperative-run gardens. In addition, a whopping figure of 2,800 small tea growers contributes to the state’s total 90 lakh Kgs to 1 crore Kg annual tea production. Around 30 percent of the total production comes from the small tea growers.
Tripura has secured the fifth position in terms of 15 tea-producing states of the country with a contribution of 10 percent of the total production under its name.
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