Assam’s 200-year-old tea industry is poised to face a critical setback in the coming days as the talks between the state government and representatives of the All Assam Bought Leaf Tea Factories and Manufacturer’s Association (ABLTMA) has failed.
As the meeting aimed at resolving the issues affecting the sector have failed to work out any conclusive results, the association, which has around 200 bought-leaf factories across Assam will now go ahead with their earlier declared agitation to stop buying non-compliance green tea leaves from small tea growers and to shut down all bought leaf factories spread across the state from June 1.
Speaking to North East Live, Chand Gohain, the President of the Association said that it is unfortunate that the talks had failed due to the attitude of the state government and a few Tea Board of India officials.
“The negotiation with the government has failed. We also had a discussion with Industries and Commerce Minister Bimal Borah and now waiting for Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s decision on the matter,” said Gohain.
The meeting held in Guwahati on May 29, was presided over by Chief Secretary Ravi Kota and Principal Secretary (Industries) Dr. Lakshmanan, and attended by bought leaf factory owners, small tea growers and Tea Board of India officials.
Both parties stuck to their grounds during the meeting.
The members of the association said that tea produced by using non-compliant green tea leaves had severely affected the quality of Assam tea. Non-compliant green tea leaves are referred to as those leaves that do not comply with the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and break norms by using banned pesticides.
The Association had stated that more than 90 percent of the samples sent for tests have shown overuse of pesticides in the leaves. It has also demanded that testing facilities should be made available in Assam since sending samples to Kolkata for tests results in heavy expenses as well as time-consuming.
Earlier, it has also expressed concern over the fact quality tests are only carried out for the CTC (crush, tear, curl) variety of tea, whereas there is no such provision for the orthodox variety.
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