GUWAHATI, Feb 6: The North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) will confer lifetime achievement awards to two prominent personalities of Assam – Apurba Kumar Barooah and Sagar Mehta — in recognition of their extraordinary achievements, commitment and dedication to the tea industry and social fabric of the state.
The awards will be conferred on February 8 at Golaghat during the ‘Chairman’s Dinner’, a biennial event to be attended by various stakeholders of the tea industry – tea producers, buyers, auctioneers, small tea growers and tea scientists, NETA chairman Ajay Dhandharia said on Thursday.
“NETA will confer lifetime achievement award ‘Social Statesman’ to Barooah for providing visionary leadership for the betterment of society”, Dhandharia said.
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The lifetime achievement award of ‘Tea Exemplar’ will be awarded to Sagar Mehta for his contribution to the industry and the social fabric of Assam, he added.
The association had earlier conferred the title of ‘Tea Doyen’ to eminent tea planter late Hemendra Prasad Barooah in 2017.
“NETA is honoured and privileged to confer lifetime achievement awards to two great personalities. Both of them have crossed 93 years of age. Their contributions shall continue to motivate generations to come and shall always be remembered with great honour and dignity”, NETA advisor Bidyananda Barkakoty said.
Born in 1932, Barooah has been a pioneer of the cooperative movement in Assam, a journalist, tea planter, poet, writer and founder of Golaghat’s first weekly newspaper — Saptahik Dhansiri.
Barooah had also started Tea News, a one-of-a-kind monthly magazine to highlight the achievements, concerns and hopes of the state’s tea industry.
He has also written a handbook in Assamese for small tea growers of the state to encourage more and more youth to engage with the industry.
He had also published a book on the history of Manipur in Assamese language so that the people of the state can read about the history of their neighbours in their own language.
Mehta, who will turn 96 on May 5 this year, is now the oldest serving tea garden executive in India with 70 years of service to the industry.
NETA, established in 1981, has 179 member tea companies spread over Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. (PTI)
