Guwahati, Jan 12 : Reopening of the transit routes through Bangladesh, if allowed by the Government of the neighbouring country, can be of immense help to the tea industry, particularly to the gardens located in the Barak Valley and Tripura.
Assam produces around 450 million kilograms of tea every year on an average but the region consumes only around ten percent of the it and the rest is sent outside.
But the transportation bottleneck is a major hurdle faced by the industry in sending tea to rest of the country and abroad.
Tea Industry sources told The Assam Tribune that even tea sent through the Inland Container Depot (ICD), Amingaon, is sent by road and with the transportation cost increasing every day, it is becoming difficult for the smaller tea companies to meet the expenses. Most of the smaller tea companies are also not in a position to send out tea through railways.
Moreover, reaching the Kolkata port for exports is a tedious part and frequent bandhs and road blockades in lower Assam and North Bengal added to the owes of the tea companies. Sources also said that some of the transporters are not to keen to send their trucks to Assam any longer because of the disturbances and bandhs on the way, which added to the problems of the tea industry.
The Secretary of the Tea Association of India (TAI), Guwahati, D Deka, said that reopening of the transit routes would be of great help to the tea industry in Assam as it would reduce the distance to Kolkata considerably.
He, however, said that several key issues would have to be sorted out before the tea companies start sending tea out of the state through Bangladesh even if the transit routes are reopened.
Deka admitted that the gardens of Assam, particularly those located in the Barak Valley would be immensely benefited if the transit routes through Bangladesh are reopened. He said that the valley has more than a hundred gardens and they always face severe transportation bottleneck.
During the rainy season, the road and rail links to the valley are snapped due to landslides, which also disrupts communication and put the gardens under severe strain. Different tea associations are demanding special transport subsidy for the gardens of the Barak Valley because of the transportation bottleneck faced by the gardens, but till date, the Central and State Governments have not initiated any step in this regard.
Deka said that reopening of the transit routes through Bangladesh would solve this major problems faced by the gardens of the Barak Valley.
The TAI, Guwahati, Secretary said that if the tea gardens of Assam are allowed to use the Chittagong port, it would be beneficial as the distance to that port from Assam is much nearer than Kolkata port.
However, Deka said that some issues need to be settled before reopening of the transit routes through Bangladesh for transportation of tea.
He pointed out that the border check posts, both in India and Bangladesh must be properly equipped to handle transportation of goods including tea and no one knows the condition of the roads inside Bangladesh.
Moreover, it is a fact that India has very cordial relation with the present Government in Bangladesh but apprehension remains whether reopening of the transit routes would be successful if a Government, which is not very friendly to India comes to power in the neighboring country in future, he added.
Meanwhile, tea industry sources said that Bangladesh has also started producing tea and they might not be interested in allowing of Indian tea to be transported through the country to pose competition to the local tea industry.
However, till now, Bangladesh only produces around 60 million kilograms of tea annually, which is very less in comparison to Assam to pose competition to Indian tea in the international market.
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