GUWAHATI, July 13 - The tea industry of the State is for close examination of the issue of transferring the industry to the State List from the Union List as it is highly important that there exist minimum government, maximum governance and an environment of ease of doing business. This was the observation made by North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty.
However, Barkakoty was in favour of withdrawing the April 15, 2015 notification making sale of 70 per cent of their produce through auction centres mandatory for the bought leaf factories (BLFs).
Nevertheless, the NETA chairman pleaded for shifting of the posts of the Deputy Chairman and the Director of Tea Development of the Tea Board to its Guwahati office.
Barkakoty was asked to comment on the assertion made by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for transferring tea to the State List from the Union List of the Constitution of the country and for withdrawal of the notification that has made sale of 70 per cent of the produce through auction centres mandatory for BLFs, in his letter to Union Minister of State (Independent) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman.
Barkakoty stated that the April 15, 2015 notification, which gave effect to amendment to clause or para 21 of the Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO), 2003, is not needed in a liberalised, globalised economy. Therefore, such compulsions should not be applicable to any segment of the manufacturers.
�We feel there is discrimination on two fronts � BLFs are compelled to sell 70 per cent of their produce through auction centres, whereas the estate factories are exempted from it. Moreover, all buyers registered with the Tea Board of India have also not been subjected to the obligation of making 70 per cent of their purchase from the auction centres,� he said.
Moreover, all the buyers registered with the Tea Board are not registered with the tea auction centres, he said.
Barkakoty further argued that the number and profile of the buyers in auction centres is limited and thus, teas produced by the BLFs usually fetch much less prices compared to ex-factory sales.
