Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday claimed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had assured him the neighbouring country would buy tea from the state.
While inaugurating an event, Deb said, “Following a message from a Calcuta-based tea entrepreneur, I called Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but I couldn’t talk. Later, she rang me back and we discussed import and export of tea. She assured me that they would buy tea from Tripura and she will direct her officials to import tea from our state.”
He also said Bangladesh has been importing tea from Sri Lanka so far.
“No one could imagine that Tripura tea can be sold at Rs 10,000 per kg in the market. Earlier, Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC) had sold tea at Rs 144 per kg but now they have fetched Rs 177 per kg last month in an auction at Calcutta. Bangladesh is importing tea from Sri Lanka but now we are also ready to sell our quality tea to them,” Deb said.
Tripura grows nearly 90 lakh kg green tea annually. Most of it is sent to auction centres in Calcutta and Guwahati. The corporation is planning to start an auction centre in Agartala to sell tea produced in the state here.