The North Bengal Tea Auction Centre in Jalpaiguri will again witness the auction of the brew in March, after a gap of around 11 years.

The centre had been opened in 2008 by the then state commerce and industry minister, Nirupam Sen. However, the facility had been hit by the low inflow of teas ever since its inauguration. Eventually, the centre closed down in 2014.

North Bengal has a second tea auction centre in Siliguri, around 45km from Jalpaiguri. The Siliguri centre was established in 1976.

“We have received an official communication from the Tea Board which announced the dates for the mock auction test and the actual auction. The live auction will be conducted online and the necessary infrastructure repairs will be completed soon,” said Purajit Bakshi Gupta, the vice-chairman of the North Bengal Tea Auction Committee that runs the centre.

He said the committee had been lobbying the Union government for a decade for the reopening of the Jalpaiguri centre.

“Our local MP Jayanta Roy was also instrumental in making the auction centre operational,” added Bakshi Gupta.

According to him, the mock auction test will be conducted on March 10 at the centre on Shivaji Road in Jalpaiguri town.

“If the mock test succeeds, the first auction will be conducted on March 31. The Union commerce and industry ministry also played an important role in making the centre operational again,” he added.

Sanjay Dhanuti, a member of the task force formed by the stakeholders of the tea industry to reopen the centre, said the resumption of the tea auction would create new employment opportunities.

“We urge the tea estates of north Bengal to sell their produce through this centre. There should be an adequate inflow of teas to keep it running,” he said.

Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations, welcomed the move.

“The auction centres in Coimbatore and Coonoor (both in Tamil Nadu) are located around 70km apart. If these centres can run successfully, the auction centres in Jalpaiguri and Siliguri should also operate. There is no paucity of teas in our region but those should be routed through both the centres,” said Chakraborty.

On March 5, preparations for the auction will commence with the creation and uploading of tea sale catalogues. “The registration of vendors and other formalities will be completed by March 7, followed by the mock test on March 10,” said a source.