Floods, landslides take heavy toll on Assam tea plants
The tea industry in Assam’s Barak Valley is facing serious problems. After landslides, tea estates in the area are now facing the wrath of floods.
By Bikash Singh, TNN |
GUWAHATI: The tea industry in Assam’s Barak Valley is facing serious problems. After landslides, tea estates in the area are now facing the wrath of floods. At a time when the gardens have to pay a Durga Puja bonus, the tea belt in the districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj have incurred financial losses exceeding Rs 20 crore due to natural calamities.
The valley’s estates have sent an SOS to chief minister Tarun Gogoi to consider total withdrawal of green leaf cess with respect to the Barak Valley tea industry for the time being to bail them out of the crisis.
Natural calamities have cut off links for several Barak Valley estates. More than seven tea gardens were locked out while many could not send despatches as there is no road link or the roads are inundated.
Tea Association of India secretary Dipanjal Deka said estates were facing a cash crunch as there was hardly any dispatch of finished tea from them. “On September 6, the Food Corporation of India said there is a foodgrain stock available in the area for 10 days. If the situation doesn’t improve, there will a food crisis in the gardens,” he added.
Indian Tea Association (Surma Valley branch) secretary Sumanta Guha Thakurata told ET: “The situation in a majority of the 116 tea gardens in Barak Valley is so aggravated that garden managements have been facing severe financial strain, with the Durga Puja bonus due to be distributed.”
Mr Thakurata added that there had been no end to the miseries of the area, with communication bottlenecks due to lack of railway connectivity with Guwahati since June 25 and the occasional closure of National Highway 44 due to frequent landslides in Meghalaya.
The situation was compounded due to devastating floods in the Barak Valley areas that resulted in the region being cut off from the rest of the country.
Mr Thakurata said more than 10 lakh people in the Barak Valley had been affected by the floods.
He added that at least 50% of the gardens in the three districts of the valley had been affected due to the floods. In a number of gardens, matured and young tea was inundated.
Mr Thakurata said water levels had risen to submerge quarters of workers at several places and plantations and factories were also flooded.
Additionally, a majority of the gardens faced scarcity of high speed diesel, coal and foodgrain .Electricity supply had also been disrupted.
Mr Thakurata said despatch of tea from a majority of the estates had been held up due to the breakdown in communication . “All financial sources are blocked as products are not being marketed,” he added.
He said average price realisationfor per kg of tea had been less this year. While in 2006, the average price for a Barak Valley tea was about Rs 63.64, this year, it is around Rs 59.
Cachar produces 52-55 million kg of tea. This year, production figures are expected to remain the same. More than 80,000 people are employed in tea estates of the Barak Valley. Tea from the area is supplied to Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
The valley’s estates have sent an SOS to chief minister Tarun Gogoi to consider total withdrawal of green leaf cess with respect to the Barak Valley tea industry for the time being to bail them out of the crisis.
Natural calamities have cut off links for several Barak Valley estates. More than seven tea gardens were locked out while many could not send despatches as there is no road link or the roads are inundated.
Tea Association of India secretary Dipanjal Deka said estates were facing a cash crunch as there was hardly any dispatch of finished tea from them. “On September 6, the Food Corporation of India said there is a foodgrain stock available in the area for 10 days. If the situation doesn’t improve, there will a food crisis in the gardens,” he added.
Indian Tea Association (Surma Valley branch) secretary Sumanta Guha Thakurata told ET: “The situation in a majority of the 116 tea gardens in Barak Valley is so aggravated that garden managements have been facing severe financial strain, with the Durga Puja bonus due to be distributed.”
Mr Thakurata added that there had been no end to the miseries of the area, with communication bottlenecks due to lack of railway connectivity with Guwahati since June 25 and the occasional closure of National Highway 44 due to frequent landslides in Meghalaya.
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The situation was compounded due to devastating floods in the Barak Valley areas that resulted in the region being cut off from the rest of the country.
Mr Thakurata said more than 10 lakh people in the Barak Valley had been affected by the floods.
He added that at least 50% of the gardens in the three districts of the valley had been affected due to the floods. In a number of gardens, matured and young tea was inundated.
Mr Thakurata said water levels had risen to submerge quarters of workers at several places and plantations and factories were also flooded.
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Additionally, a majority of the gardens faced scarcity of high speed diesel, coal and foodgrain .Electricity supply had also been disrupted.
Mr Thakurata said despatch of tea from a majority of the estates had been held up due to the breakdown in communication . “All financial sources are blocked as products are not being marketed,” he added.
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He said average price realisationfor per kg of tea had been less this year. While in 2006, the average price for a Barak Valley tea was about Rs 63.64, this year, it is around Rs 59.
Cachar produces 52-55 million kg of tea. This year, production figures are expected to remain the same. More than 80,000 people are employed in tea estates of the Barak Valley. Tea from the area is supplied to Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
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