The Hindu Business Line : Nilgiris tea growers to plead case in Chennai

Representatives of small tea growers and factory owners from Nilgiris will call on the secretaries of the different ministries of Tamil Nadu in Chennai later this week to apprise them of their various requirements.

This follows the discussions the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, had with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, last week.

"We have received calls from the Ministries to present to them a comprehensive list of our requirements. We understand that based on our earlier representations, the Chief Minister has urged the Commerce Minister to consider our case favourably. As it is, we have lists for both the Centre and the State. We believe that the CM is keen to help us before the civic polls scheduled for October," Mr T. Rangaiah, President, Nilgiris Small Tea Growers' Association, told Business Line here on Wednesday.

He said that a delegation called on the Chief Minister a week ago and urged him to press the Centre for a subsidy of Rs 2 a kg to the small growers in the Nilgiris as given earlier. "Maybe, the Chief Minister had pressed the Commerce Minister to consider this. We will submit proposals for this again," he added.

The growers have urged the Chief Minister to reduce the sales tax on the teas sold privately and through the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) and the Tea Trade Association of Coimbatore (TTAC) to the level applicable for the Teaserve auctions.

"Only some 20 per cent of the producers operate through the Teaserve auctions. So, we have appealed to the CM to reduce the sales tax on CTTA and TTAC also to 1 per cent," said Mr Rangaiah, who was a former chairman of both these auction centres.

The growers are also expecting some useful announcement on the floor price for the green leaf supplied by them to the factories.

More Stories on : Tea | Industry Associations | Tamil Nadu

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