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The Assam tea industry has demanded a complete overhaul of the present tea e-auction system. Stating that a "complete reform in the present e-auction system is the need of the hour", the industry has demanded a pan-India e-auction system for tea.
"Though e-auction was introduced by discarding the manual auction system but still it cannot be termed as an efficient system for fair price discovery. All auction centres run the auction system as per their own whims and fancies . Often sale dates are deferred; payment dates are deferred at their will. In Guwahati, a parallel system of sale through "private mode" takes place along with "auction mode" in complete violation of Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO) 2003," said Bidyananda Barkakoty, chairman of North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) in a memorandum submitted to Union commerce and industry minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, here today.
The tea industry demanded that the e-auction system should be pan-India which may be implementable after introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India."Another school of thought is that auction system is doing more harm than good in fair price realisation. The producers' liberty to sell their produce through any channel should be persisted with," said Barkakoty.
The industry has also demanded setting up of another tea-auctino centre at Jorhat in Upper Assam. Sitharaman was in the city today to take part at a tea-stakeholders meet. Earlier, in her speech at the launch of 'Make in India' campaign, she had highlighted about connecting the North-Eastern India with Japan through a industrial corridor.
The tea industry demanded that the Tea Board should launch an electronic platform, similar to the e-platform of tea waste sale, for sale of tea. "This may be taken up on top priority. NSE.IT, who had developed the e-auction software for sale of tea through auction centres, had already done a lot of work in devising this system. This electronic platform will be different and in addition to existing e-auction system," said Barkakoty. It also demanded that the Tea Board should function more as a facilitator than as a regulator.
