Assam tea planters today called for a single hotline phone number along with deployment of drones/unmanned aerial vehicles to ensure adequate security for executives and workers of the industry.
"We appeal to the government to provide the tea industry a single hotline phone number in every tea growing area so that well-equipped and well-manned police and paramilitary forces arrive at the spot within 30 minutes of receiving a phone call", North East Tea Association (NETA) Chairman Bidyanand Barkakoty said here.
Tea executives stay in remote estates and on several occasions it had been observed that timely arrival of police/paramilitary forces could have saved many precious lives of tea executives and estate owners, Barkakoty said while addressing NETA's 16th Biennial General meeting here.
"Many times it has been found that though the nearest police station had been informed but they express helplessness due to non-availability of required force", he said.
Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) should also be deployed in tea growing areas for surveillance and to track movement of militants, armed gangs and green leaf thieves and dacoits, Barkakoty added.
NETA also urged the Centre to shift the head office of Tea Board from Kolkata to Guwahati to serve the greater interest of people connected with tea cultivation.
"Assam alone produces about 53 per cent of the country's total tea and according to our estimate the North-east will churn out more than 65 per cent of the country's tea but still the Tea Board has not been headquartered in Assam", he added.
