AGARTALA, June 8 – In a bid to ensure optimum utilisation of land, Tripura Government has constituted a high-level committee to ascertain the actual area under tea cultivation and vacant land in the tea estate areas.
Preliminary reports suggest, of the total 13,371.77 hectares of land meant for tea plantation, more than 50 per cent land remains unutilised. Only 6,611.08 hectares of land is covered with tea plantation in 58 tea estates across the State.
The government is on the move to outline its future plan for revival of tea industry after getting final report from the panel, said Industries Minister Jitendra Chowdhury.
Addressing an interactive session with tea estate owners at Prajna Bhavan here on Thursday, Chowdhury strongly advocated for optimum utilisation of land allotted for tea plantation.
There are reports of huge land lying unused in different tea estates. This should not happen to ensure optimum utilisation of land as expansion of tea industry, he said.
Chowdhury also made it clear that absolute control of tea estate owners over the allotted lands should not be permitted as demanded by them.
Sudip Kumar Roy, Principal Secretary of Industries and Commerce tried to address all the proposals put forward by tea estate owners.
On the desertion of tea labourers due to NREGA, Roy exhorted the tea estate owners to offer best possible financial package to stop the tendency.
It has been observed that a sizable number of tea labourers have started deserting the tea gardens to get job under the national flagship programme NREGA causing acute shortage of manpower in tea gardens.
On the shortage of fertilizer, Roy said if any garden owner comes forward with a concrete proposal to bring fertilizer directly, the government will render all possible help.
However, the government will not offer a blanket tax waiver to the tea estate owners, he said adding that the tea garden owners could negotiate with TNGCL to use gas for processing tea at their factories.
Executive Director of Tea Board, Rakesh Saini, Binoy Kakoti, Scientific Officer of Tea Research Association (TRA) and TAI secretary PK Biswas also attended the interactive session.
Soruce:http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jun0909/ner
No comments:
Post a Comment