Absence of rain has hit the tea industry hard in north Bengal.
Ruing the dry spell in Jalpaiguri today, the Dooars Branch Indian Tea Association secretary, Mr Prabir Bhattacharya, said that the planters had not experienced such conditions in many years. “We did not experience such drought after 1984. The dry spell has scorched tea bushes in most plantations and we fear a severe drop in production this year,” he said.
“We fear production would be down by 10 per cent this year. The industry has already lost 50 per cent of the first flush crop normally realized between 15 March and 15 April. The Dooars receive about 250 inch rainfall a year but the region has received a paltry 1/2 inch rain in the past six moths spoiling the first flush tea, which is the best quality,” he said. According to him, the Dooars requires 6-7 inch rainfall in the next few days or the conditions would become irreversible.In addition to wilting for lack of rain, the tea bushes are coming under relentless pest attack. “Spiders, caterpillars and the lot are taking toll of the tea bushes. Both the drought and pest would increase the production cost this year by a considerable degree,” he said. According to him, the Dooars has an average annual production of 160 million kg tea. “We fear about 12 million kg shortfall this year. The industry has informed the state government of the situation and we are waiting for a response,” the secretary said.
Workers of the limping Bharnobari Tea Estate today set a deadline of April 7 for the management to pay them the February wages and clear the ration dues of five months, failing which they would block the road connecting Jaigaon to NH31C.
The warning came in the form of a memorandum the labourers submitted to the Kalchini block development officer today.
The garden, located 42km from Alipurduar town, was re-opened on April 28 last year and ever since, the management had been paying the workers their wages as well as providing them with rations on time till the end of November. Although there was no power connection to the factory in the estate, generators were used to produce tea.
But with the beginning of the lean season in December, the management stopped meeting the financial obligations.
The workers were paid the wages for December in the first week of February this year only. The payments were made in parts. Permanent workers were paid first, temporary workers then and the staff and sub-staff members were the last to receive the wages.
The people living in the garden faced other problems too. The employees of electricity department had come in the first week of March to disconnect power lines to garden quarters when Madhyamik examinations were going on. At the request of the parents, the employees left the garden without snapping the power lines.
As the workers were living without wages, two persons allegedly starved to death in the estate. The BDO, S. Sundas, contacted Surojit Basu, one of the buyers of the garden, and the wages for January were paid in the first week of March.
Biplab Sarkar, a leader of the Intuc-affiliated National Union for Plantation Workers in the garden, said: “Provident fund dues are running to almost Rs 52 lakh. We are yet to receive the February wages. Rations for five months are also pending. The management had collected power bills for January from us, but did not deposit the amount with the electricity department.”
Sarkar said if chemicals were not sprayed on bushes, tea plants were bound to be eaten away by insects. “The situation in the garden is grave and the future of our children is uncertain. So, we have told the authorities that if the wages for February are not paid by April 7, we will block the road from Jaigaon to Hashimara.”
Basu said over the phone from Calcutta that the management was trying its best to clear the dues. “We have contacted labour commissioner and he will arrange for a meeting after the elections to resolve the issue.”
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