Guwahati: Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday assured the tea planters in Assam that he will take up the issue of declaring tea as India’s national drink with the union ministry of commerce and industry.

Ahluwalia gave the assurance while attending the 75th anniversary celebration of the Assam Tea Planters’ Association (ATPA), the first tea producers’ association formed by Indian tea planters during the pre-independence period.