The country’s third tea auction centre in the northern district of Panchagarh is set to be launched on September 2.
Minister for Commerce Tipu Munshi is expected to inaugurate the centre as the chief guest.
Bangladesh Tea Board and Panchagarh district administration jointly organised a preparatory meeting on this occasion at the conference room of the deputy commissioner (DC) on Wednesday.
Speakers including Tea Board Chairman Major General Ashraful Islam put forward their views regarding the centre at the meeting.
Addressing the event, Ashraful ordered to strictly use mobile courts by the authorities to curb smuggling of tea along with ensuring quality of produced tea.
Read: Country’s 3rd tea auction centre to open in Panchagarh in September
He said the tea cultivation in the district started due to sincere efforts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and later it spread across the northern region.
The tea board chairman informed that over 1.77crore kg of tea worth around Tk 260 crore was produced in the district last year which is 19 percent of the total production of the country. The district ranks second in tea production.
He said all kinds of preparation have already been completed and the auction will be tendered online and for that warehouses have been built.
Read: Bangladesh’s third tea auction centre to open in Panchagarh in a month
Chaired by DC Md Jahurul Islam, Tea Board’s Joint Secretary Nurullah Nuri, Zilla Parishad Chairman Md Abdul Hannan Sheikh and Superintendent of Police SM Sirajul Huda, among others, joined the event.
The first and second tea auction centres in the country are in Chattogram and Moulvibazar’s Sreemangal.