Dibrugarh, Sept. 23: The 40,000 odd fraternity of small tea growers’ in Assam has got a fresh lease of life with the decision of the Tea Board to sanction a Rs 8-crore loan for setting up a factory.
The factory will be situated near Lahowal in Dibrugarh district under the name of Soumar Tea Cooperative Society Limited. Resident director of Assam Small Tea Growers’ Development Cooperative Society Limited Debojyoti Bhuyan said the final sanction letter from the board is expected within the next few days.
“The factory will have a capacity of processing six lakh kg of CTC tea and will provide ample scope for the small tea growers to get good returns for the green leaf,” Bhuyan said.
The Lahowal project will be the second of its kind after the Borhat project in Sivasagar district. The Borhat project went into commercial production in 1999 and was established with financial assistance from the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi) and the State Bank of India.
“The ICICI and the National Cooperative Development Corporation Limited have shown interest in sanctioning loans on simple interest for our future projects,” Bhuyan said.
A delegation of the Tea Board, led by its tea development wing director G. Borah, will visit the project area in Lahowal on October 3 along with ICICI representatives.
Earlier, the All-Assam Small Tea Growers’ Association had forwarded some suggestions to the Parliamentary Standing Committee which had visited Assam recently. The association had suggested setting up of co-operative factories so that the growers are not deprived of a reasonable price. “Small tea growers will be able to earn maximum direct benefit, being involved in agricultural production of green leaf, made tea and marketing of bulk and packet teas with the introduction of self help collection centres,” said Hemanta Gohain, general secretary of the All-Assam Small Tea Growers’ Association.
The association had also suggested shifting of the Tea Board head office from Calcutta to Guwahati, upgradation of the Jorhat branch office with more technical and administrative powers and opening up of a new branch office at Dibrugarh.
The association has also decided to intensify its agitation programmes in support of its demands, including fixing a minimum price for green leaf, enacting legislation in this regard and giving land pattas to small tea growers. It has called for ceasework and staging of a dharna in front of the deputy commissioners’ offices in their respective districts on September 26.
Rare deformity: Only blei (god) can save his month-old son, believes Samson D. Khar, a villager from Erbamon in East Khasi Hills district. His wife delivered a baby boy with a rare head deformity a month ago, reports our Shillong correspondent.
Wonderful Khongsling, Samson and N. Khongsling’s ninth child, was born with “two heads”. Doctors treating Wonderful have almost given up hope. A CT scan report released today stated that the condition was a “case of complex anomaly of brain, calvaria and face with hypertelorism”. Paediatrician H. Giri, who has been treating Wonderful for the last two days, said that baby’s “amniotic bands” were disrupted, resulting in brain damage.
