Hundreds of youth, students and athletes ran on the street in Agartala on February 19 morning seeking support for reviving tea industry of Tripura as part of Run for India tea being launched by Tea Board.
Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Padma Shri Dipa Karmakar, her coach Bisweswar Nandi and TTDC Chairman Santosh Saha joined the run in Agartala which was organized byTripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC).
Addressing the gathering, Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said the BJP-IPFT government in Tripura has made out multiple efforts for reviving tea sector, one of the oldest industries of Tripura. Applauding the response of Union Industries and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal over the initiative of the state government to scale up supply in the domestic market and export Tripura tea to neighbouring Bangladesh, Nath said tea industry will get a big boost in coming years, as the state government allowed eco-tea tourism in the unused tea orchard lands.
TTDC Chairman Saha said that the corporation has been working on twin strategies – becoming a leader tea market of Tripura and to ensure exporting Tripura tea to Bangladesh. “Several letters have been exchanged in this regard with the government. During the last meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina the issue was discussed,” he said.
“Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had written to Union Minister of Industries and Commerce Piyush Goyal for his intervention to materialise the plan of exporting tea and extending support for the revival of the tea industry. Letters have also been exchanged in the industries and commerce ministry level in both the countries,” Saha added.
Bangladesh imports about 65 lakh kilograms of tea per annum from Sri Lanka. The Bangladesh government has shown interest to procure tea from India, which can be seen as an opportunity for Tripura due to its geographical proximity and longstanding camaraderie.
Apart from that, Saha also said that there had been a chance of exporting CTC tea in countries like Dubai, Kazakhstan, and Egypt, as the countries were seeking to procure Indian tea for its good taste.
