The three-day Tea and Tourism festival titled ‘Ootea Fest’scheduled to commence at the Breeks HADP Open Air Stadium here has been opposed by the newly formed Federation of Tea Cultivators Associations.
According to Federation convener Manjai V. Mohan it was to register the protest of thousands of small tea growers who have been subjected to considerable hardship on account of their raw tea leaves fetching unremunerative prices.
Regretting that efforts to get better prices for their produce were conspicuous by their absence, he opined to The Hindu here on Wednesday that the celebration of the Tea and Tourism festival would not help them in any way.
He added that though the festival was introduced in 1992 it was yet to serve its purpose.
Pointing out that the price per kilogram of raw tea leaves has come down to Rs. five, he said that the cost of cultivation was much higher. Though even the Madras High Court had ordered that a realistic price should be given the growers continue to languish. Even the District Tea Price Monitoring Committee has not been functioning for the past several months.
