Overall development of the entire North Eastern Region has been emphasized in Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s “Act East Policy”. To improve the economic condition of this region, friendly environment for small industries has to be established, stated Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Som Prakash in a review meeting held on ‘North East Industrial Development Scheme’ (NEIDS) and on state’s tea industry at State Guest House, Agartala today. Secretary of Industry & Commerce department Abhishek Chandra discussed elaborately on NEIDS scheme in the first half of the meeting.
The Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry directed the concerned officials to quickly resolve all the shortcomings being faced in setting up of industry in Tripura. It is to be noted that NEIDS was started on April 1, 2017 for 5 years for industrial promotion in the North Eastern Region. The scheme was started to provide different benefits to investors in North Eastern Region. Secretary of Industry & Commerce department Abhishek Chandra emphasized upon simplifying and modernizing the connectivity with Bangladesh and Mayanmar for improving exports and further development of the tourism sector. Rubber, Incense sticks, Agar etc industries were also discussed in the meeting. Representatives of different industrial organizations of the state as well as the country were present in the meeting.
In the second half of the meeting, state’s tea industry was elaborately discussed. Setting up of Tea Auction Centre was also discussed, as a result of which small tea growers of the state will be benefitted besides Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram. Tea Board of India official Arunima Phukan Yadav informed in the meeting that there is possibility of conducting a meeting in the first half of September. In this regard, Secretary of Industry & Commerce department Abhishek Chandra informed that all kinds of assistance will be provided in setting up of the Tea Auction Centre. Apart from that, the matter of restarting tea garden under MGNREGA was also discussed through which small tea growers will be hugely benefitted. Apart from that, continued supply of required amount of fertilizers, medicines, necessary gas etc., were also discussed in the meeting.
It was also informed in the meeting that tea industry of the state along with the entire North Eastern Region will reap benefit once export of tea is made possible to Bangladesh. The participants of the meeting have urged the Indian and the Bangladesh government to jointly take up on this matter. Tripura Tea Industry Development Corporation Chairman Santosh Saha, Director of Industry & Commerce department Subhash Das, other official
s of the department, others associated with tea industry and representatives of the Corporation were present in the meeting. It is to be noted that Tripura ranks 6th in India in tea production. There are tea gardens on about 8 thousand 302 Ha land in the state. Among these, 2,865 small tea growers have tea garden on 1,408 Ha land. In 2021, Tripura produced 8.81 million kg of tea. There are 52 tea estates with 10,438 tea garden workers engaged in them.
