Tea warehouses call off strike

After a meeting with the tea industry, held last evening, the warehouses strike has been called off from today by the Guwahati Tea Warehousing Association (GTWA).

The bone of contention between the warehouse owners and tea industry was the amount of monthly rental that tea sellers pay for storing tea at various tea warehouses in the city before auctioning them at Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC). As against the present rate of Rs 16 per month for a bag of tea (33 Kgs), the warehouse owners were demanding Rs 24.

The tea industry agreed to pay Rs 21 per month per bag, which is also the existing rate in Kolkata.

"Though our demand for Rs 24 was not met, our members are happy that the industry has agreed to at least pay us at par with the existing rate in Kolkata. We will now receive teas as well as deliver teas from our godowns," said Ramesh Jain president of GTWA to Business Standard.

He said that since a rate revision at Kolkata is due a year later, the GTWA has put the rider that same would also be done here.

"A year later, the rate will be revised in Kolkata. We hope the same terms and conditions apply here too," Jain added. There are 30 tea warehouses in Guwahati and they were on strike since Saturday.