Locally grown betelnut traders suffering but Govt unconcerned, says Kamalakhya in Assam Assembly

March 15: During the ongoing Budget Session of Assam Legislative Assembly, various issues of prime concern were raised by the opposition. One such issue was the plight of the locally grown supari traders. Their shops were shut down and the supari are getting rotten. This issue was raised in the floor of the house by North  Karimganj MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purakayastha.

MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purakayastha further stated that though the Chief Minister assured to come up with a specific SOP for transportation of local betel nut and coal within 12 January, 2022, but nothing of that sort has yet been notified by the state government. As a result, the local betel nut traders were suffering a lot. He also added that the government sent two of its MLAs in Karimganj for a detailed study of coal and betel nut trade, but no relief till now was provided to the local traders.

Replying to the query of MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purakayastha, Minister Pijush Hazarika stated that the state government has already taken appropriate steps as regards transportation of coal in Barak Valley. He said, “Only those traders who have proper documents are able to transport coal. As such, no illegal trade in coal is prevalent now in Barak Valley.” However, on the issue of betel nut trade, the Minister stated that as of now no SOP has been issued but the government is working on this issue and soon come up with regulations so that local supari businesses are not hampered due to illegal transport of Burmese betel nuts.