Arunachal to take up small tea growers' plight with Centre

The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly today adopted a resolution to pursue the long pending issue of small tea growers of the state with the Centre.
The Supreme Court order of December 12, 1996 banning timber operation to check deforestation, had affected the tea growers to cultivate tea even in their own land.
The Assembly also resolved to urge the Centre to constitute a joint committee comprising officials from the union government, state government and Tea Board of India which would recommend measures to address the issues of registration of the small tea growers in a time bound manner, preferably within three months.

The Assembly adopted the resolution following a private member resolution brought by BJP MLA Gabriel Denwang Wangsu on the sufferings of the small tea growers of the state due to Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Supreme Court order.
Wangsu lamented that after the Supreme Court order, the Government of India had made mandatory for the tea growers to acquire NOC from the union Environment and Forest Ministry to get them registered with the Tea Board of India.
"No significant initiative has been taken so far to mitigate the problems of the small tea growers of the state as they are facing problem to get the NOC and register with the Tea Board for getting subsidy," Wangsu pointed out.

Stating that Arunachal is the second largest tea producer among the northeastern states after Assam, Wangsu requested the government to initiate measures to simplify the process of obtaining NOC from the forest ministry.

Responding to the resolution, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein informed that the issue was decade-old and unless the Supreme Court order is lifted, getting certificate from Tea Board would be difficult.
He said to encourage tea and rubber cultivation, the state government had made budgetary provision of Rs 10 crore each to the sectors by giving the farmers subsidized loans.
The deputy chief minister further informed that out of 3,410 small tea growers in the state only 62 were registered under the Tea Board.

Taking part in the discussion, senior BJP member C T Mein who is also a progressive farmer pointed out that the main problem faced by the tea growers are the Land Possession Certificate (LPC) which the Tea Board did not accept for registration.
He said Tea Board provides subsidy to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh per hectare.
Tage Taki of BJP, participating in the discussion urged the government to pursue the Centre for getting relaxation in forest activities.