The Hindu Business Line : Darjeeling stir leaves tea industry in a fix

Kolkata, June 19 With the Darjeeling bandh, called by Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha, paralysing normal activity in the entire Darjeeling district for the fourth day on Thursday, producers of the world’s top quality Darjeeling tea face an uncertain future, according to sources close to Darjeeling tea planters.

Plucking & production

This is the time (from May 25 to July 10 ) when the second flush tea, i.e. the best quality and therefore, the highly priced tea, is produced. While there has been no let up in either plucking of green leaves or production of the tea, the evacuation of tea produced has come to a halt.

Not a single kg of the made tea can now be brought out of the gardens as a sequel to the bandh, causing concern to the producers. A total of 87 gardens in Darjeeling district are now producing about 80 to 100 tonnes of top quality tea every day. The market value of this daily production will be about Rs 4 to 5 crore.

In other words, an estimated Rs 20 to 25 crore worth of best quality teas are now lying accumulated in various Darjeeling gardens since Monday, awaiting early evacuation. Even tea samples cannot be sent either to the auctions or to the buyers, making the producers apprehensive of probable loss of foreign markets.

There are other problems as well. The electricity supply to many gardens has become erratic. Diesel generating sets cannot be operated either because the bandh has totally stopped road movement in the entire district with the result that diesel is not available.

The supply of workers’ rations too is disrupted. At many places, there is no water. What is particularly causing concern to workers is that they may not get their weekly wages, more so because banks are closed.

An art at risk

All this, according to the planters, will have far-reaching consequences affecting the production of this world famous tea. Tea making in Darjeeling is an art, says a top planter, adding, “it is not the machines but the men behind the machines, particularly the managers, having long experience and unique expertise, who make the production of these high quality teas possible. But many of them are now shaken by the agitation and wonder if they can continue in their present jobs”.

The Darjeeling tea planters are sincerely looking forward to an early settlement of the present crisis.