Amid demands for shifting the Kolkata-based Tea Board of India (TBI) headquarters to Guwahati, board chairman MGVK Bhanu said that changes in the location of the head office would not be in the interest of tea sector in the country.
Bhanu said that instead of shifting the headquarters, steps are being taken to set up a chairman’s office at the TBI Northeast zonal office in Jorhat so that the chairman can make frequent visits.
“Shifting the headquarters from Kolkata to Guwahati would not be in the interest of overall tea sector in the country. Historically the headquarters has been Kolkata. Also, Assam being the largest tea producer, the zonal office will be strengthened with a chairman’s office so that issues are resolved promptly,” Bhanu said.
North Eastern Tea Association (NETA), which represents the medium sector tea planters in the State, has been demanding shifting of the Kolkata-based TBI headquarters to Guwahati as Assam contributes more than half of country’s total tea production. At the NETA’s 16th biennial general meeting in Golaghat last month, NETA chairperson, Bidyananda Barkakoty argued that except tea board all five statutory commodity boards — tea, coffee, rubber, spices and tobacco are all headquartered in the States where the products are mainly grown. Of the total 1,135.07 million kg tea produced during 2012-13, Assam’s share is 588.14 million kg.
The issue of shifting the headquarters came up during an interactive session with TBI chairman organised by Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) here on Friday.
Emphasising the need for maintaining quality of tea, Bhanu said that consumers are willing to pay more for good quality of the beverage.
“We have to concentrate more on producing good quality tea. We are going to put factory code in place in next six months so that the factories adhere to the dos and don’ts for quality tea manufacturing,” Bhanu said.
With the increase in domestic demand for tea, the TBI chairman said that India can both meet the demand for domestic market and at the same time can export its surplus. He added that this has become possible only because of significant contribution from the small tea growers in the country.
Out of India’s 1,135.07 million kg production, 30 per cent is from the small tea growers. “The situation today is quite different with the emergence of small tea growers. Fifteen years ago, 90 per cent of the production was from the big growers,” he said.
Bhanu said that apart from Assam, small tea growers from Northeastern States like Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland are going to make significant contribution in the tea sector in near future. “Our thrust is to protect the interest of small tea growers, guiding them with right type of materials so that quality is maintained,” he added.