STTA STOPS TEA BUYING IN AUCTION PROTESTING TEA BOARD’S NEW POLICY
By R. Subrata (TNI Siliguri)
Webdesk, TNI Siliguri 23rd June, 2016: In accordance to the PAN India stance today the members of Siliguri Tea Traders Association (STTA) stayed away from any deal through tea auctions in Siliguri. They even warned to continue to follow the same in the next auctions if situations don’t change. This stance was taken to protest against few clauses in the new Pan Country Tea Auction system of the Tea Board of India. The secretary of STTA Mr. Ankit Lochan informed to press that the auction was not stopped but members stopped purchasing from it. The chairman of Terai India Planters Association (TIPA) said “The new system is going to ruin the tea trading”. Under the new system, payments need to be made directly by the tea buyers to the sellers after the auction. Earlier there was an ad hoc payment system existing before the auction. The brokers used to provide the payment to the sellers for the stocks under the brokers. This enabled the sellers to meet up the additional expenses of the tea workers. Henceforth, the brokers have stopped the ad hoc payments. This clause is affecting the small tea growers of this region and even throughout the country.
Edited By: Snigdha Som (TNI Siliguri)