JORHAT, Sept 24 - The Assam Tea Planters� Association (ATPA), one of the oldest and largest tea growers� body in the State, has urged the Assam Gas Company Limited and Assam Power Distribution Company Limited to waive Minimum Demand Charge and Fixed Charge applicable to the tea gardens. Addressing the 82nd annual general meeting of the ATPA virtually from the tea association�s headquarters here yesterday, the outgoing ATPA Chairperson,� Dr Nazrana Ahmed, while painting a grim picture of the tea industry during Covid-19 pandemic period,� requested the AGCL and APDCL� to waive the Minimum Demand Charge and Fixed Charge till adequate supply was established.
Dr Ahmed stated� that the bills be charged on actual meter reading �because profiteering without actual supply was a legal violation� by the two companies exploiting their monopolistic position�. She further sought of extending the Green Climate Fund under NABARD and Zero Budget Natural Farming to tea estates for rejuvenation and mitigating the climate crisis as TRA research had shown that within a few decades tea growing areas would shrink due to climate impact, disrupting millions of livelihoods mainly of women forcing economic migration with its attendant sociological implications.
It may be mentioned here that this was the first time that an ATPA AGM being held virtually� due to the Covid-19 pandemic safety protocol.
Dr Ahmed said that the tea industry had stumbled into the horse latitudes, without re-framing of coordinates and that the industry with losses of 25 per cent crop this year would be in doldrums.
�Compounded Annual Growth Revenue prices since 2012 have been negative when in the last few months average prices had just about reached cost of production, whereby entrenched stakeholders raised the issue of imports in this era of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, when the Prime Minister has directed us to be Vocal for Local,� she observed.�
Dr Ahmed also raised the concern of illegal tea imports through Nepal. Referring to cost of production and pricing of tea, Dr Ahmed said that prices of all inputs from petroleum products to fertilizers, also of edible products as for instance lentils had risen� 25 per cent during the pandemic, while on the other hand, she pointed out that tea although an agriculture product its average prices were not being calculated by the calendar year but speciously bifurcating the year�s sale to reflect increase of averages when averages in the first quarter sales had actually decreased by Rs 70-80.
Referring to the cost of increased� production of registered gardens as compared to small tea growers,� she said that the economies of scale were skewed against registered tea estates who were providing health, housing, education, sports activities, welfare schemes, both statutory and non-statutory fringe benefits in addition to guaranteed generational employment and a living wage, in a healthy work environment.
�This industry is a microcosm of society requiring ethical responsible stakeholders at every level, the skewed binary in favour one stakeholder should not lead to fragmentation of large estates jeopardising the economic and ethno-cultural ethos of Assam tea, the state drink of Assam,� Dr Ahmed commented.
Dr Ahmed, also a noted tea planter based in Dibrugarh, thanked the Asaam Government on ATPA�s behalf for assistance extended to tea industry through various schemes, and waiver of cess on green leaf, Assam Agriculture Tax amendments, supply of medicines and Mobile Medical Units, allocation of food grains during lockdown besides improving road connectivity.
JORHAT, Sept 24 - The Assam Tea Planters� Association (ATPA), one of the oldest and largest tea growers� body in the State, has urged the Assam Gas Company Limited and Assam Power Distribution Company Limited to waive Minimum Demand Charge and Fixed Charge applicable to the tea gardens. Addressing the 82nd annual general meeting of the ATPA virtually from the tea association�s headquarters here yesterday, the outgoing ATPA Chairperson,� Dr Nazrana Ahmed, while painting a grim picture of the tea industry during Covid-19 pandemic period,� requested the AGCL and APDCL� to waive the Minimum Demand Charge and Fixed Charge till adequate supply was established.
Dr Ahmed stated� that the bills be charged on actual meter reading �because profiteering without actual supply was a legal violation� by the two companies exploiting their monopolistic position�. She further sought of extending the Green Climate Fund under NABARD and Zero Budget Natural Farming to tea estates for rejuvenation and mitigating the climate crisis as TRA research had shown that within a few decades tea growing areas would shrink due to climate impact, disrupting millions of livelihoods mainly of women forcing economic migration with its attendant sociological implications.
It may be mentioned here that this was the first time that an ATPA AGM being held virtually� due to the Covid-19 pandemic safety protocol.
Dr Ahmed said that the tea industry had stumbled into the horse latitudes, without re-framing of coordinates and that the industry with losses of 25 per cent crop this year would be in doldrums.
�Compounded Annual Growth Revenue prices since 2012 have been negative when in the last few months average prices had just about reached cost of production, whereby entrenched stakeholders raised the issue of imports in this era of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, when the Prime Minister has directed us to be Vocal for Local,� she observed.�
Dr Ahmed also raised the concern of illegal tea imports through Nepal. Referring to cost of production and pricing of tea, Dr Ahmed said that prices of all inputs from petroleum products to fertilizers, also of edible products as for instance lentils had risen� 25 per cent during the pandemic, while on the other hand, she pointed out that tea although an agriculture product its average prices were not being calculated by the calendar year but speciously bifurcating the year�s sale to reflect increase of averages when averages in the first quarter sales had actually decreased by Rs 70-80.
Referring to the cost of increased� production of registered gardens as compared to small tea growers,� she said that the economies of scale were skewed against registered tea estates who were providing health, housing, education, sports activities, welfare schemes, both statutory and non-statutory fringe benefits in addition to guaranteed generational employment and a living wage, in a healthy work environment.
�This industry is a microcosm of society requiring ethical responsible stakeholders at every level, the skewed binary in favour one stakeholder should not lead to fragmentation of large estates jeopardising the economic and ethno-cultural ethos of Assam tea, the state drink of Assam,� Dr Ahmed commented.
Dr Ahmed, also a noted tea planter based in Dibrugarh, thanked the Asaam Government on ATPA�s behalf for assistance extended to tea industry through various schemes, and waiver of cess on green leaf, Assam Agriculture Tax amendments, supply of medicines and Mobile Medical Units, allocation of food grains during lockdown besides improving road connectivity.
