Guwahati, March 16: Tea Association of India (TAI) has welcomed the Assam finance minister’s budget announcement to bring 436 garden schools under the ambit of state government and also set up 117 model high schools in the tea garden areas to augment education facilities in the tea belt of the state.
“The model high schools in the tea gardens would be made operational from May 10 this year,” the minister had stated during her Budget presentation.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, TAI secretary Dipanjol Deka, hailed the announcement, while saying that the “Assam Tea Industries Special Incentives Scheme (ATISIS) is a timely move by the government to help the ailing industry. The government has already disbursed around Rs 45 crore till date.”
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had launched the scheme in July last year. The scheme aims to boost the production of orthodox or specialty tea in the state by extending incentives to the tea gardens.
“The budget allocation to tea tourism wherein the tea estates will be provided capital infrastructure support for building guest houses/tourist facilities and also undertake non tea cultivation activities such as agroforestry, solar power projects etc to augment their income is appreciated,” the TAI secretary said.
“An amount up to Rs 2 crore each to 50 select gardens will be provided by the government,” Deka said, while anticipating that the gardens would avail the benefits of the announcement.