At the Durgabari tea estate in West Tripura, Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Sunday officially opened the state's first gas-based tea processing centres. He said that his administration has plans to expand the state's tea business by allowing exports to Bangladesh's neighbour and establishing an auction centre in Agartala. Processing facilities fueled by gas improve production efficiency while also reducing pollutants.
Notably, the Hiracherra tea estate in the North Tripura district dates back to 1916, and Tripura's tea industry has been around for more than 100 years. Currently, there are 2,800 small tea growers and 14,000 tea workers in the northeastern state.
In his remarks during the inauguration ceremony, Saha stated that his government was working to modernise and rehabilitate outdated tea gardens.
"In a timely manner, we'll seek to establish an auction centre and promote exports to Bangladesh. The industries and commerce department has already been designated as the nodal agency for the task, according to Saha.
The chief minister added that Tripura's soil was suitable for growing tea. The chief minister stated that his administration was aiming to promote the socioeconomic advancement of tea garden employees when speaking about them.
"They were consistently utilized as a vote bank. Right now, we're working to raise their living standards. Our administration is aiming to give tea garden workers better housing, sanitization, clean water to drink, power, connectivity options, and social security pensions, the CM stated.
Saha said that his government was following the concept of "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas" by giving two ganda residential lots to each of the 7,200 households in the state who work in tea gardens.
With an annual production of 9–10 lakh kg of tea (approximately 10% of the nation's production), spread across 12,990 hectare, Tripura ranks as the fifth-largest tea-producing state in the nation. There are 54 tea estates there, including three public estates and 12 cooperatively run estates. There are 22 tea factories in the state, including five cooperative-run and 15 private ones.
Prior to 2000, the majority of tea estates produced orthodox tea, but in the new millennium they switched to CTC. Many of these estates are reverting to orthodox tea production thanks in part to encouragement from the Tea Board of India and government marketing support.
