Financial

Bakaullahs will go on talking, Sheikh Hasina will go on development: Commerce Minister

Financial
05 June, 2022 10:39:13

Photo: Collected

News Desk: Addressing the critics of the government, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, "We are going to inaugurate the dream Padma Bridge in just 20 days." The people of Chittagong are looking forward to the inauguration of the tunnel. The trend of development of our country is going on. Even then, the Bakaullahs will continue to gossip and criticize. But our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina believes in building, she will build and develop.

He made the remarks at a function organized on the occasion of 'Tea Day' at Osmani Auditorium in the capital on Saturday (June 4). Bangladesh Tea Board organized the event. Chairman of the Tea Board Major General Ashraful Islam, Chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association M Shah Alam and Chairman of Tea Traders Association Omar Hannan addressed the function presided over by Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh.

"We are thinking of increasing tea production," he said. This tea industry has got the touch of the father of the nation. Due to his contribution, the industry has come a long way. Wherever he has given his hand, history has come and success has come. Tea production is increasing by 4 to 5 percent every year. However, we are not able to export because the production is less than the demand of the people. The people of the village now get up in the morning and have tea in the shop. This means that people's purchasing power has increased.

He said tea cultivation in the northern region started from the Prime Minister's own idea. Today 15 percent of the domestic demand is coming. Today, the economic development of the people of the northern region has been due to the tea leaves. There are no people in the northern part of the TCB line now. Their income has increased a lot due to working in the tea garden.

Tipu Munshi said small tea gardens need to be supported. Overall, we all have to move forward. There are more than 140,000 workers who need to be trained to send their children out of the country. We have some tea leaves that are available in the English market. People's income is increasing, he used to drink one cup of tea, now he will drink two cups of tea. Now 100 million cups of tea are consumed daily in the country.

Addressing the tea owners, he said good quality resorts are being built in the tea gardens. These are good for business. There is no harm in keeping the buyer at the resort and feeding him once, showing the environment of the factories. This makes buyers happy and branding their products.

Laughing, the minister said, "One of my acquaintances told me that there is a honeymoon resort here (in the tea garden)." I was also curious to see the honeymoon resort. I told her it was my 50th wedding anniversary in two years. He wants to take his wife there on his 50th wedding anniversary.

Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed said tea production on uncultivated and small plots of land is a landmark step. Workers contribute 90 percent to the development of our tea industry. We want to take initiative to send workers out of the country with more training. This requires the cooperation of other ministries. The tea industry has come a long way because of what the Prime Minister has given to the tea workers. Women are playing a role in women's empowerment through government support of tea workers.

FBCCI President. Jasim Uddin said that the size of our GDP is now 417 billion dollars. There is a foreign currency crisis all over the world. There was also a crisis at the time of the tax. We did well in that situation. We will become a middle and developed middle income country with the contribution of all. The tea industry will help us further our goals.

At the event, tea industry insiders said, "Bangabandhu honored us by taking charge as the first Bengali chairman of the Tea Board." June 4 has been declared as Tea Day to commemorate the contribution of the Father of the Nation tea industry.

At present the total number of workers in the tea garden is one lakh 43 thousand 97 people and the total number of small scale tea growers is about eight thousand people. At present tea leaves are being exported to 23 countries including Australia, Bahrain, United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, Cyprus, Brunei, Greece, China and Japan.

To meet the growing domestic demand for tea, expand the export market, increase the production of quality tea, and improve the living standards of tea workers, the government has formulated a development roadmap: Bangladesh Tea Industry. The roadmap was approved by the Prime Minister on January 8, 2016. It includes a total of 11 short-term (2016-2020), medium-term (2016-2025) and long-term (2017-2030) programs. The short-term plan has already been successfully implemented. The roadmap has set a target of 140 million kg of tea production by 2025.

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