A plan to relocate the headquarters of the Tea Board of India from Kolkata to Guwahati would be ill-fated according to board chairman MGVK Bhanu, The Times of India reports. Bhanu suggests that the relocation would not be beneficial to the Indian tea industry.
Rather than moving the headquarters, Bhanu has suggested that the board will construct an office for the chairman in the northeast of India to promote frequent visits.
"Shifting the headquarters from Kolkata to Guwahati would not be in the interest of overall tea sector in the country. Historically, the headquarters has been Kolkata. Also Assam being the largest tea producer, the zonal office will be strengthened with a chairman's office so that issues are resolved promptly," said Bhanu.
The North Eastern Tea Association (NETA), an organization representing the medium sector tea planters in the state, proposed the move to Guwahati because the Assam region produces more than half of the tea deriving from India.
Bhanu is urging the Indian tea industry to focus on more important issues, such as the quality of the tea. He believes consumers are willing to pay more higher quality tea.
"We have to concentrate more on producing good quality tea. We are going to put factory code in place in the next six months so that the factories adhere to the dos and don'ts for quality tea manufacturing," said Bhanu.
SOURCE: Times of India