GUWAHATI: Small tea growers in Assam have welcomed the state government’s move to waive cess on green leaves produced by them with the state Assembly passing the Assam Taxation (on Specified Lands) (Amendment) Bill, 2018 on Wednesday.
The Assam government has through the Bill withdrawn the 10 paise cess per kg of green tea leaves that was earlier levied in the state. The waiver is applicable for small tea growers with holdings of 40 hectares or less land.
The All Assam Small Tea Growers Association however wants the state industries department to issue a notification to the factories in this regard so that the benefit of the move accrues to the small tea growers with immediate effect.
“More than Rs 200 crore has been collected since 2009-10 through the cess levied on green leaves but the proceeds have not properly utilised for our welfare. No receipts have been provided as well. So while we welcome the state government’s move to withdraw the cess and the earlier decision to grant land patta to small tea growers, we would like to request the state industries department to immediately notify the factories on the waiver,” Rohit Borgohain, the general secretary of the association told The Shillong Times on Thursday.
According to sources quoting the latest data, there are 1, 44,222 small tea growers (having land holdings up to 10 hectares) in Assam.
Bijit Basumatary, a small tea grower from Kokrajhar district, while expressing relief on the cess withdrawal, said that small tea growers have not been getting their due rates on the leaf sold to manufacturers over the years.
“So we are happy that the state government is providing some relief. I reckon about 10 per cent of our cost will be reduced. At the same time, we want the government to continue the schemes which were implemented with the cess amount collected earlier,” said Basumatary, one of the 12 small tea growers who run a 10 hectare garden at Kakrighola Nayakgaon near Kokrajhar town.
The small tea growers’ association, for its part, has time and again urged the government to control the price of green leaf, establish factories, set up a separate tea ministry, utilise the cess deposit and provide land documents to sustain the growers.
There have been allegations of big tea companies paying “less” to small growers for green leaf and forcing the growers to sell at a price that does not cover the cost of production.
“Our cost of production has gone up. It costs around Rs 15 to produce a kilo of green leaf but we are forced to sell between Rs 12 and Rs 14. At times, the factories refuse to buy our leaf citing breakdown,” said a small tea grower.
Assam accounts for about 50 percent of tea production in India, the world’s second-biggest producer. The small growers contribute about 40 per cent of Assam’s total tea production.