The Hindu Business Line : 31-member tea advisory panel set up

THE Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, has constituted a 31-member Tea Advisory Committee (TAC) to monitor the implementation of the action plan arising from the recommendations of the stakeholders' conference held in September this year.

The stakeholders' conference had deliberated on the challenges before the tea industry.

An official release said the Additional Secretary (Plantations) in the Department of Commerce would be the Chairman of TAC. The Tea Board Chairman would be the Vice-Chairman of this committee.

The other members of the committee include representatives of tea producers, tea trade and auctioneers, small growers and bought leaf factories, labour welfare organisations, financial institutions, state governments and some other important personalities in the tea sector.

Earlier during a meeting with the Kerala chief Minister, Mr Oomen Chandy, he assured that he would look into the policy of sale of tea through auctions in order to address the issue of intermediaries. Mr Chandy pointed out that while consumers were paying Rs 120 per kg, growers were getting only Rs 55 per kg of tea.

Mr Nath also said the ban on duty-free import of pepper would help growers to overcome the problem of glut in the domestic market.