Coal India commits 1 lakh MT coal to Tripura industries

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when the industrial sector of Tripura is grappling in an acute crisis of energy resources—specifically coal, the “Coal India” seemed to have brought some respite. The state-owned company has committed the state to provide 1 lakh metric ton of coal to meet the energy scarce of the industrial sector, said Additional Director of Tripura Industries and Commerce department Subhas Das.

The Coal, in Tripura, was deemed to be a very crucial energy source for the state as both the major industry sectors of the state—Tea and Brick kiln require huge quantity of coal to keep their production unit running.

Das, who had partaken in a Webinar hosted jointly by Tea Board India and the Indian Chamber of Commerce, also said, “the government is very seriously working to assist the industrial sector to grow eyeing on its self-reliance goal. The Coal India is ready to give the support but still there are some nitty-gritties to be settled and this major project is under the pipeline”.

Das expressing concerns over the challenges faced by the tea industry as a whole, said, “At some point Tripura really lacked in quality tea making but now the situation has changed. But, there are certain issues still to be figured out to fetch better results. Here, we see the tea is falling short to compete with even Cachar tea. The industry should set a goal to at least compete with the contemporary tea growing regions in terms of quality”.

On alternative energy prospects, Das said, the TNGCL and the Industries department put heads together to draw up an alternative plan to source energy for the tea industry. But, as of now, as the gardens are mostly located distant regions having no proximity to each other it is quite impossible to lay up pipelines. And, the basket system is not at all economical, he added.

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Atul Rastogi of Luxmi tea group said, “In the tea industry, the need of coal is almost in 1:1 proportion. If we are drying 1 Kg of raw leaves, 1 Kg of coal is required. But, due to the pandemic induced lockdown, the entire industry has been reeling into serious crisis of coal. The situation has been so tough for us that for last few months we are running our machines of farness oil. But, it is not a viable process because if the prices of the oil shot up, the production cost and selling cost will meet at par of edges”.

TTDC Chairman Santosh Saha however opined that a better coordination within the industry would lead it fetch better results. Among the others, Tea Board India, Deputy Chairman Arun Ray said suggested the stakeholders to focus on the marketing aspects of tea.

“There are talks, but what we need right now is to push Tripura tea in the global market. Right now, Burma and Bangladesh are the suitable markets for Tripura tea and if the bilateral issues get settled the Tripura tea will do tremendously well in these targeted markets. Since most of the tea growers belong to  small tea growers family big-ticket industries should come forward and make this produce of the state to have packed and branded well in the international markets.

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