CM calls for promotion of tea industry in State

September 1, 2021 90 Views No Comment

Correspondent TIZIT, Sept 1 (NPN) : State chief minister Neiphiu Rio Tuesday called for a tea industry revolution as all government-owned industries have failed in the State. Inaugurating Langto Tea Industry (LTI) at Sangsa village, Rio urged the tea growers to take the lead in bringing this revolution.

He congratulated LTI’s owner Langto Angh and his son P Paiwang Konyak, who is also transport, civil aviation & railways and land resources minister, for setting up the industry and hoped that their hard work would not go in vain.

Maintaining that all government-owned industries in the State were a failure, while a few of those functioning were running at huge losses, he said it was a matter of pride for a local enterprise to have come up and hoped that they would be successful.

He also appreciated the minister for promoting tea plantation in Tizit area and farmers, observing that the initiative had yielded good result and that the tea growers would benefit.

Rio instructed the agriculture department to impart proper training to the farmers and employees at the tea factory so that the youth could be employed within the State instead of going outside.

He remarked that coffee too was considered a failed crop in the past before it was revived and, now. Naga coffee had carved itself in the world coffee map and considered as one the best coffees in the world. Likewise, he hoped that the local tea industry too would flourish.

Assuring that the State government would extend support to tea growers in all possible ways, he also urged them to maintain consistency in tea output and quality. He exuded confidence that the State’s economy would improve with the setting of tea industries like LTI in the coming days.

In his brief address, agriculture minister G Kaito Aye congratulated Langto Angh and Paiwang Konyak for their initiative in setting up the tea industry, pointing out that while many MLAs chose to construct personal property in Kohima or Dimapur, the minister chose to build an industry for the benefit of local people, which was highly appreciable.

With two tea factories at Tizit itself, he exuded confidence that more employment opportunities would be created for the local youth.

He also urged the district and police administration to provide security to the industry to avoid “unwanted” threats from certain elements, while assuring that grievances of tea growers, if any, would be addressed on time.

Acknowledging Paiwang and Langto Angh for establishing the tea industry in Tizit area, legislator CL John urged citizens to maintain a peaceful environment and help the industry grow.

Konyak Union Tizit unit president Wangdun lauded Langto Angh for setting up the industry and said his son Paiwang had initiated tea plantation in Tizit area since 2001 and his dream to have an industry was fulfilled after 20 years by establishing a tea factory.

He urged the proprietors to give more opportunity to local youth irrespective of their political affiliations while giving them employment.

Wangdun sought cooperation from locals of the area and urged the staff of the industry to conduct their activities in a transparent manner.

Tizit Tea Growers’ Association Honlem also spoke at the event.

Meanwhile, LTI managing partner Sanjib Ghosh in an interaction said the tea industry was conceptualised by Langto Angh and his eldest son Paiwang for the benefit of small tea growers in the area.

He said LTI had the capacity to process 16,000 kg of tea leaves per day and produce 5 lakh kg “made tea” per year. He said the revenue scope would be known once the tea was sold in the market through auctioning.

Ghosh claimed that LTI would focus more on quality leaves and quality production so that the factory and people of the area carve a name for themselves for producing quality tea.

He said the enterprise would market the tea in the market under the brand name “Tizit Tea”, adding that the company had approximately 30 employees now.

Though the region had over one thousand tea growers currently, he mentioned that the company would be associating with around 300 of them only mostly from Tizit area.

The managing partner said Tizit tea would be auctioned at Guwahati, even as interested buyers from the State, if any, would be welcomed. He said initially, the focus would be on tea saplings, maintaining quality of tea and promoting it, especially at Guwahati Tea Auction Centre.

The programme was chaired by Mon deputy commissioner Thavaseelan and attended by a host of legislators from Mon district, government officials, tea growers and others.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/cm-calls-for-promotion-of-tea-industry-in-state/239406.html