Four Tripura tea estates handed over to cooperative

Agartala, June 13 (UNI) In order to revive ailing tea industry in Tripura, the state government has decided to hand over four prospective tea estates to Co-operative societies.

The deal had been finalised in a high level meeting at Civil Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar yesterday that suggested exploring the future achievability of the garden as well as of the labourers.

Besides providing job opportunity to the seeking workers, the societies would get benefit from National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the District Magistrate had already asked to initiate the move, official sources here today said.

In the meeting it had also been decided to dig water bodies in the low-lying areas of the garden to pave the way for massive pisciculture and poultry farm as well as irrigation, while waste lands in and around the gardens would be used for bamboo and rubber cultivation.

The agro-climatic conditions in Tripura are suitable for development of tea plantation and the soils are generally fertile, without any major problems of toxicity or deficiencies.

The tea currently produced in Tripura is recognised for its good blending qualities, said Tripura Tea Development Corporation officials.

Tripura has a history of tea plantations going back to 1916 in fact, Tripura is categorised as a traditional tea-growing state - with about 60 Tea Estates and 4,346 small tea growers, producing about 7.5 million kg of tea every year, which makes Tripura the fifth largest, among the 14 tea producing states, after Asom, West Bengal, Tamilnadu&Kerala, they added UNI