CTTA wants to resume tea auction, seeks clarification

Expressing the desire to resume the tea auctions, the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) has appealed to Supriya Sahu, the Monitoring Officer of Tamil Nadu Government for The Nilgiris district, for necessary guidance and co-ordination with Centre, State, Tea Board and other agencies.

“A delegation of our eight committee members covering the sellers, buyers and brokers, led by our Chairman Jatin Dani, called on Supriya Sahu and explained the problems faced by the different sections of the trade to resume operations following the permission granted to the tea industry and trade”, CTTA Vice Chairman L Vairavan told BusinessLine .

“Our principal concern is the normalising of the transport of teas, both inter-state and intra-state, because warehouses contend that teas bought from Sale No: 9 held on February 28 are yet to be moved out”, he said.

“We have sought clarity on the documents to be carried by transporters when they move teas”, he disclosed.

Besides, the CTTA has sought resuming the courier and postal services as buyers are unable to send samples to their principals based in other states. Also, with the offices of upcountry buyers also remaining closed, the CTTA wants guidelines from the Tea Board for their resumption.

The CTTA has also sought clarity on obtaining long term passes from district administration for the movement of the staff members of the buyers, sellers, auctioneers, warehouses and transporters as also export associations situated in Coimbatore.

“In addition to the movement of tea, we have sought clarity on the documents required for transporting green leaf from small growers and collection agents to the factory”, Vairavan observed.

Since our teas are stored in the designated warehouses in Coonoor, Mettupalayam and Coimbatore, we have sought guidelines for their functioning as well including to the trade unions of loading and unloading workers, he said.

“Also, we need guidelines to reopen ancillary and allied activities including packing bags, firewood or coal fuel supply, machine and lathe workshop”, he added.