Tripura: 'Run for Tea' campaign organised to promote state tea

‘Run For Tea’, a three km run was jointly organized in Agartala by the Tea Board of India jointly with Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC) to further promote and popularise Tripura tea and create awareness regarding its health benefits.

A large number of tea lovers participated in the run that was flagged off from the tea corner of Birchan state library here by Tripura’s Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath along with Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation Dipak Majumder, Runita Phukan, Executive Director of Regional Office of Tea Board of India (TBI), Special Secretary of Industry department Abhishek Chandra, and Santosh Saha, Chairman Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC).

They also took part in the run along with more than 1000 runners and covered the streets of the capital city.

Speaking to reporters TBI official Phukan expressed that the aim is to enhance the sale of tea through promoting and popularising Tripura tea besides adding to the health through awareness and the run.

Meantime, the chairman of TTDC said that to increase the sale of Tripura’s tea there is a demand for setting up a tea auction centre in the state to avoid the cost and hassle of transportation of tea to the existing tea auction center at Guwahati beside opening the hurdles in exporting tea to Bangladesh through the land customs of Tripura.

He added that the issue of exporting Tripura’s tea to Bangladesh shall be raised during the forthcoming scheduled visit of the Bangladesh Prime Minister to India next week.

Tea production started in Tripura back in the year 1916 when it was a royal state at present with 54 tea estates, hundreds of small tea growers, and 22 tea procession factories it is in the sixth position among the tea-growing states of India.