N Bengal tea body demands abolition of government auction system

Pramod Giri, HT, 18 Jul 2016, SILIGURI: The North Bengal Tea Producers’ Welfare Association (NBTPWA) has urged the Tea Board to do away with its mandatory regulation to sell 50% of their produce through government’s auction system.

North Bengal produces more than 40% of total tea produced in the plains of the state. The Association has also branded the Tea Board’s condition for the tea producers to avail subsidy under Quality Up-gradation and Product Diversification Scheme as impractical and lopsided. 

The association representing 130 bought leaf factories (BLFs), which procure green tea leaves from small tea growers and process them to prepare tea held its 11thannual general meeting here on Saturday evening. Satish Mitruka, the president of NBTPWA, said. 

“The 130 BLFs produce 135 million kg of CTC tea while the total production of CTC tea in the plains of North Bengal is 360 million kg.” BLFs are located in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch behar and Uttar Dinajpur districts. 

They have no plantation of their own but buy green tea leaves from small tea growers whose number is more than 40,000 in these districts. 

Union commerce and industries ministry under which the Tea Board functions has made it compulsory to sell 50% of tea produced by all producers across the country through auction centres.