ITA conspiring against people of Assam: Neta

The North Eastern Tea Association has opposed ITA's proposal of price-sharing with small growers.

In a letter to Tea Board Chairman MGVK Bhanu, North Eastern Tea Association (Neta) alleged Indian Tea Association (ITA) is working only for the interest of corporate tea estates.

"To our knowledge, the price sharing formula is very much in force. Then why is the Tea Board not implementing price sharing formula on the corporate sector tea estates? The price sharing formula should be applicable for the whole tea season and not on piecemeal basis," ITA Chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty said in the letter dated June 27.

The price sharing formula, he said, cannot be different for bought leaf factories and estate factories. Not only small tea growers but many medium sized tea estates also sell green leaves.

"The sudden utterances by corporate sector tea industry are nothing but a conspiracy against the people of Assam. We strongly condemn their statements and hope good sense will prevail upon them and they will withdraw the derogatory statements made against the green leaf growers and bought leaf factories," Barkakoty said. Earlier this week, ITA had said it is seeking to bridge ties with the unorganised sector of small tea growers as the latter's production volumes were witnessing a secular rise. "The volume of tea produced by small tea growers is approximately 33 per cent of the total production. At this juncture, it is important to establish a linkage between them and organised players," ITA Chairman A N Singh had said. He had said that the large volume of small tea growers, whose produce were being processed at various bought leaf factories, was actually bringing down the prices of quality tea in both the Assam and Dooars region in West Bengal.