Tough times

Calcutta, May 3: Tea buyers are still boycotting auctions to protest the increase in brokerage fee.

Only three big buyers turned up for the Guwahati auction today, which sold 5 per cent of the offering.

The buyers were Eveready Industries India Limited, Tata Tea and Madhu Jayanti, said Gopal Poddar, president of Tea Auction Buyers Association of Calcutta (Tabac).

The fee was increased from 5 paise per kg to 25 paise per kg and 33 paise per kg at various auction centres across the country.

The hike in Calcutta was 0.3 per cent of the prevailing tea prices, 0.22 per cent of that in Guwahati and 0.2 per cent of that in Siliguri.

The fee in Calcutta and Siliguri was 5 paise per kg and 3.3 paise per kg respectively since 1982.

Buyers have called an emergency meeting on Friday. ?The future course of action would be decided, which might include recourse to legal action. We are waiting for the Tea Board chairman to arrive on May 8,? Poddar said.

He expects only one to two big buyers in the Siliguri auctions tomorrow.

More than 200 players usually participate in auctions like the one held in Guwahati.

Tabac has already sent a memorandum to the Indian Tea Association and the Tea Producers Association of North Bengal.

The volumes sold at the Calcutta auctions also fell drastically to 3.25 per cent of the total amount offered.

The Tea Board has filed caveats before Calcutta High Court and lower courts in Bengal on any possible legal challenge to its hike in brokerage fee at auction centres.

The board also filed caveats in the city civil court and Siliguri civil court against the chairmen of Calcutta Tea Traders Association, Guwahati Tea Auction Committee and Siliguri Tea Auction Committee to pre-empt any move by them to obtain an ex-parte order.

The Tea Board maintained that the hike in fee was justified and also warned that strict action would be taken against buyers boycotting the auctions.