ITANAGAR, Apr 27: Members of the Arunachal Pradesh Small Tea Growers Association (APSTGA) met Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar here on Monday and submitted a representation, appealing for help from the government.
The association requested the state government to extend financial help “by bearing the cost of two times pruning of tea leaves @ Rs 14,000 per hectare as a special tea revamp package in the state.”
It also sought permission to transport and transship green tea leaves to nearby tea factories in Arunachal and Assam.
The association’s other demands included “issuing of
regular tea activity-related vehicle plying permit for carrying tea leaves and labourers; allowing regularly engaged expert labourers from officially notified ‘green zone’ areas of Assam by issuing ‘green cards’ instead of inner line permits till normalcy returns; directing all the local administrations to issue notification/order/appeal issued by the state government/central government from time to time in connection with Covid-19 to tea gardeners; and issuing of masks and sanitizers to all the tea gardeners to distribute among the working labourers.”
Meanwhile, speaking to the media, APSTGA secretary-general Techi Hemu informed that all the activities in the tea gardens across the state have stopped because of the lockdown.
“We are facing lots of problems and therefore have knocked the door of the government. We are hopeful that the government will take some action,” he said.
The chief secretary informed that the state government would look into the issues raised by the association.
“We will try to provide passes for the vehicles of the tea gardeners, so that they can take tea leaves to the factories. We will study the other demands too, and see where the government can help,” Kumar said.
