Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein has said that tea factories of Assam run on gas while those in Arunachal Pradesh run mainly on high-speed diesel or coal, leading to a substantial difference in cost.
Mein said this while commissioning the Manna Tea Factory project under the Lohit Valley Agro Horti Industrial Cooperative Society Limited at Pathargaon in the Namsai district on Friday.
“As a result, there is a substantial difference in cost of processed tea between the two states,” he said.
Mein also drew the attention of tea factory owners or management for forming an association to place their genuine demand for ease of doing business in the state.
“The members of the tea factory association in the Namsai district should suggest remedial measures for subsidizing the cost of fuel “as most of the time electricity is not available to run the factory in our state,” he said.
He also lauded the achievement of the double-line tea factory having the most brands of plant and machinery in the country.
The factory has a processing capacity of 50-60 lakh kg of green tea leaf per annum.
Mein highlighted the availability of different benefits of the new industrial policy of the state government and subsidizing the cost of electrical and electrification in small and medium scale industries within a limit of Rs. 75 lakh to Rs 2 crore.
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He said that for the promotion of the tea industry and plantation of tea, Rs 10 crore has been provided in the state budget for 2021-22 fiscal.
Mein impressed upon the youth to go for self-employment by taking up small tea farming either by forming cooperative societies or as an individual entrepreneur while utilizing the vast land and the state government initiatives.