Guwahati, Sept 19: Assam’s opposition leader Debabrata Saikia has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a special revival package for the state’s tea industry, which is reeling under climate change-induced production losses and a steep fall in green leaf prices.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday (September 18), Saikia reminded him of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) unfulfilled promises to raise tea workers’ wages and grant them Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. He noted that despite the Prime Minister’s two visits to Assam in the past eight months, during which projects worth over ₹19,000 crore were unveiled, tea workers and growers were left without concrete relief.
“About 35 lakh people dependent on the tea industry had expected a comprehensive rejuvenation package, but were left disappointed,” Saikia wrote.
The Congress leader highlighted that Assam, which contributes 55% of India’s total tea output, is witnessing a “catastrophic decline,” with production dropping by 7.8%. He said the crisis has been worsened by the collapse of green leaf prices from ₹52 per kg to just ₹15 per kg — well below the production cost of ₹25–27 per kg.
He further criticized the Centre for failing to deliver on its 2014 poll promise to raise tea workers’ wages to ₹351 per day. “Workers in Assam currently earn ₹220–250 per day, far lower than the ₹470 in Kerala and the ₹480 in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,” he pointed out.
Saikia also drew attention to the plight of six lakh workers in Assam’s small tea gardens, who remain excluded from basic wage protections, even though these gardens account for 40% of the state’s total tea production.
Adding to the industry’s woes, he said auction data showed a surge in unsold teas: in Guwahati, 36% of lots went unsold in 2025–26, up from 23% the previous year, while Kolkata saw an increase from 18% to 26%. “At the grassroots level, small tea growers are receiving only ₹13–15 per kg for green tea leaf, while the processing cost is ₹19–20 per kg, pushing them into severe distress,” he warned.
Saikia urged the Prime Minister to step in with immediate measures to prevent further collapse of the sector that provides direct employment to over one million workers in Assam.
