Kathmandu, June 11: Suryodaya Municipality in Ilam has urged Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to initiate immediate high-level diplomatic efforts with the Government of India to remove the obstacles currently affecting the export of Nepali tea.
In a letter addressed to the ministry, Acting Mayor Durgakumar Baral stated that Nepali tea exports have once again been disrupted due to procedures implemented by the Indian Tea Board.
The letter noted that tea is one of Nepal’s major cash crops and an important source of foreign currency earnings, and expressed serious concern over the barriers created by the Indian side.
According to the municipality, the Indian Tea Board introduced a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in April, requiring mandatory laboratory testing, which completely disrupted tea exports for 21 days. Exports resumed from May 20 after an agreement was reached to conduct only random sampling instead of testing every truck.
However, the municipality said the Indian Tea Board has now again begun collecting samples from every sack of Nepali tea directly at importers’ warehouses in Kolkata for testing. The letter stated that more than a week has passed since the samples were collected, yet the laboratory reports have not been received, and sales and distribution remain suspended until the reports are issued.
The municipality said this process has left around 50,000 kilograms of Nepali tea stranded in Indian warehouses and increased the risk of deterioration in quality.
The letter warned that such impractical and non-tariff barriers could devastate Nepal’s tea industry, affect the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and workers, and negatively impact the national economy.
Suryodaya Municipality has therefore demanded that the Nepal government immediately undertake high-level diplomatic initiatives with the Indian government to end the obstacles created by the Indian Tea Board and ensure a normal environment for Nepali tea exports in accordance with previous agreements and understandings.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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