In an effort to boost the century-old tea industry in the state, the Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC) is contemplating setting up its own auction centre at Dharmanagar, a senior TTDC official said.
Dharmanagar in North Tripura district borders southern Assam which also grows tea and their produce could be auctioned at the proposed centre, TTDC chairperson Santosh Saha said adding that auctioning of tea grown in Sylhet division of Bangladesh in the centre could also be explored.
"The tea industry is Tripuras only surviving industry and if we open the auction centre it will reduce the dependence on auction centers of Guwahati and Kolkata," he told PTI.
"We'll create a brand for Tripura tea, which will compete with Assam tea and other brands of the country and also try to turn the TTDC into a profit making public sector undertaking", Saha, who assumed charge on July 4, said.
The north eastern state currently produces over 3.58 crore kg green tea leaf annually, most of which are sent to Assam and Bengal for auction.
He said around 50,000 people were directly or indirectly dependent on the tea industry in Tripura, but their socio-economic status was very poor and TTDC would work to improve their condition.
The state has a total 58 tea gardens - 42 individually owned, 13 run by cooperative societies and three run by the TTDC.
The three tea gardens run by the TTDC are at Kamalasagar and Brahmakunda in West Tripura and one at Maachmara in North Tripura district, officials said.
These apart, there are nearly 3,000 small tea growers in the state, they said.
Tea production began in Tripura at the Hiracherra tea estate in present day Unakoti district in 1916. As per latest reports, 6,885 hectares of land is under tea cultivation in the state, the officials said.
Assistant Director (Tea Development) of Tea Board of India Diganta Barman had recently said efforts were on to make the Tripura tea industry a profit-making one.
"Work is on for a logo and brand-positioning of Tripura tea. We are also planning to develop tea tourism. We are trying to find a good theme", he said.
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