AGARTALA, April 5 (TIWN): Tripura tea workers union under the banner of CITU organized their 5th annual conference at MLA hostel, here today.

Speaking in the annual conference Member of Parliament Shankar Prasad Dutta said that the industry has been suffering since 2006. All water sources in gardens have got exhausted while irrigation is also not possible at present and thus young tea plants and matured bushes are dying. Nursery plants are now almost dead for want of water.

The industry suffers because of old age of tea bushes, high percentage of vacancy ration, lack of internal generation of fund and low productivity level with depressed tea market and thus gardens are facing heavy cash crunch almost every year, he mentioned.

The State produces common tea which are mostly sold in the public auction centres in Guwahati and Kolkata. The State produces on an average 9.5 million kg annually, he said.

There are 57 tea estates in Tripura out of which 20 have tea factories. Rest are small, marginal and weak and surviving by selling green leaf to the gardens having tea factories. Around 20,000 workers are directly involved in tea cultivation in the land-locked State.

“Tea price is falling with every passing day. The scope of tea export is reducing rapidly. Tripura tea has no logo so far causing problem for tea planters to get reasonable price at the auction markets”, he pointed out.