GUWAHATI, Dec 28 � A vested interest circle, which is hell bent on depriving Assam of its due opportunity to get an IAS officer of Assam cadre appointed Chairman of the Tea Board of India, has, in a time-buying bid, got one IAS officer of Kerala cadre appointed temporarily against the post, allege tea industry circles.
The post is lying vacant since October last following the expiry of the term of West Bengal cadre IAS officer Basudeb Banerjee. The term of each of the Chairman is five years.
Industry sources said that as per the convention, this time, it was Assam�s turn to get one of its IAS officers appointed as the Chairman of the Tea Board. Conventionally, IAS officers of Assam and West Bengal cadres are alternately appointed Chairman of the Tea Board. Both the States contribute around 74 per cent to the total quantity of tea produced in the country. Assam alone produces 51 per cent of the country�s total tea. Tea is grown in almost all the 27 districts of the State.
Assam staked its claim for the post. The names of three Assam cadre officers were recommended for the purpose this time. But the vested interest circle, which is very active in the Union Commerce Ministry, has been resisting appointment of one of those officers under various pretexts for the past couple of months. Deputy Chairman of the Board Roshni Sen was hence asked to officiate as the acting Chairman of the Board.
The vested interest circle managed to get an IAS officer of Kerala cadre Dinesh Sharma, who is also holding the post of CEO of the Price Stabilisation Fund Trust under the Commerce Ministry, as the Chairman of the Tea Board on a temporary basis through a notification yesterday. The circle has taken resort to this step in a bid to buy time till the pre-Assembly election political passion grips Assam so as to appoint a person of its choice stealthily, alleged the industry circles.
They have also demanded the Chief Minister, the DoNER Minister and all MPs of the State should take up the issue with the Prime Minister strongly, irrespective of their party affiliation.
The tea industry of Assam is over 180 years old and it directly employs over 6 lakh workers and of them over 50 per cent are women. Tea growing has earned so much popularity in Assam today that as per the Tea Board figures, the State has 64, 597 small tea gardens on top of its around 800 large and medium tea estates, said the sources.
