Assam regional party demands three new tea auction centres in the state

Assam's regional party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), has demanded the Centre to set up at least three new tea auction centres in the state. It wants the new tea auction centres to come up at Jorhat, Dibrugarh (both in upper Assam) and Silchar (in south Assam).

"We urge the Centre to set up tea auction centres at Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Silchar so that teas produced in Assam are sold through the auction centres of the state," demanded Atul Bora, president of AGP.

The regional party also demanded that to make the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC) competitive, it be run by a trade body and be free from political intervention.

"We urge the government of Assam that like other tea auction centres of our country, Guwahati Tea Auction Centre should be run by a trade body rather than by a minister and should be free from any political intervention," said Bora.

He added: "Presently more quantities of Assam tea are sold through Kolkata Tea Auction Centre (KTAC) than GTAC. Though the state's industry and commerce e minister, Pradyut Bordoloi, talked big to media that tea companies having tea estates in Assam will be forced to sell their teas through GTAC but statistics prove otherwise."

The regional party also urged both the central and state governments to ensure that the tea estate workers get their due wages and "not play politics with their livelihoods". During her recent visit, Nirmala Sitharaman, Union commerce and industry minister, had lamented that tea garden owners were not paying as per notified minimum wages to Assam's tea garden workers.

The party also demanded the state government to publish a white paper on the utilisation of green leaf cess. Government of Assam collects a cess of 25 paise per kilogram of green leaf from the small tea growers, which amounts to around Rs 23 crore annually. The state government have been collecting the green leaf cess since 2009.