Tea body wants transport subsidy in Assam

Guwahati: The Tea Association of India (TAI) has sent an SOS to the Centre to bail out the ailing tea industry in Assam's Barak valley by providing transport subsidy under the North East Industrial and Investment policy.

In the remote south Assam region the tea industry was in a "bad shape" thanks to the poor road communication which involves a heavy expenditure for carriage of various inputs from outside the state.[caption id="attachment_259812" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Seeking subsidy. Simantik Dowerah/Firstpost "][/caption]

TAI's Barak Valley branch sources said as the tea industry of the region dispatch their produce to the auction centres and markets located outside the state, transport subsidy will be of great help to the local planters in offsetting the additional cost of transportation.

"Poor state of physical and social infrastructure continues to remain another bottleneck in the path of development of the the backward region of the valley," they said.

"Deplorable condition of roads and bridges, non completion of conversion to broad gauge railways since time immemorial add to the misery of the planters of Barak valley," they said.

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Incidents of local taxes, duties and levee are the highest in Assam among all the tea growing states of the country, they said.

PTI