NEW DELHI, Aug 23 ? The Commerce and Industry Ministry is expected to announce a comprehensive package for the bailout of the ailing tea industry. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath gave an indication to this effect to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. The Chief Minister was assured that the Ministry was in the process of working out a package for revival of the tea industry. The Commerce Minister has hinted at a package of around Rs 500 crore, he added.
Kamal Nath has agreed to visit Assam next month to take part in a conference organised by the State Government on the tea industry, Gogoi said. In this connection, the Jayanta Madhab Committee report on the tea industry would be handed over by the State Government to the Commerce Ministry, he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister announced that the Ministry of Transport and Highways has agreed convert the National Highway from Guwahati and Dibrugarh to four lane highway at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. The project would not be part of the East-West Corridor though, he said. The Chief Minister, who was addressing a press conference, said that the State Government would have its own strategy to tackle the floods. A committee at the local level is proposed to be constituted for this purpose, he said.
The committee would supplement the work of the task force that was constituted by the Ministry of Water Resources, he said. The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction at the assistance provided by the Centre during the recent floods. ?The Centre cleared Rs 55 crore out of the NCCF and in addition released Rs 200 crore as ways and means advance for relief work, which we had not received in the past?, he contended. The worst is over and concentration now is on rehabilitation of the 80-lakh people still living in the relief camps, Sri Gogoi said.