Lockdown: Bengal small tea growers seek govt clarification for operations

Small tea growers in West Bengal have sought clarification from the government on its order which allowed skiffing and plucking operations in the gardens with 25 per cent workforce during the ongoing lockdown, wondering whether they can now sell their produce to bought- leaf factories or not, an industry body official said.

Small growers, who contribute about 62 per cent of the tea production in the state, have not started plucking operations as they are not sure whether the bought-leaf factories (BLFs) can buy leaves from them for processing during the lockdown, he said. "We have sought clarification from the government whether the STGs can sell their crop to the BLFs or not as per the government order," Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (Cista) president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty told PTI.

The order does not mention about operations of BLFs which buy leaves from small growers, he said. "We have requested the chief secretary for clarification. We did not get the first flush and now plucking is practically stopped due to the confusion," he said.

According to him, the BLFs in states such as Tripura, Assam and Kerala are buying leaves from the small tea growers. However, most of the tea gardens in Darjeeling have started production with the limited workforce after the government allowed plucking operations. Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) chairman Binod Mohan said production has started in 90 per cent of the gardens since plucking was allowed.

Chamong Tea has also commenced operations at its gardens with the stipulated labour force, chairman A Lohia said. Some of the gardens like Makaibari are not able to restart operations fully. "We are now doing skiffing operations and will have to wait for production to start," Luxmi Tea director Rudra Chatterjee said. Indian Tea Association (ITA) secretary general Arijit Raha said, "We will urge the government to increase the workforce percentage to 50 from 25 per cent now."

The local administrations are also keeping a check on whether the tea gardens are maintaining social distancing norms and other safety practices to contain the coronavirus outbreak, he added.

READ: 'No Greater Patriotism Than Participating In COVID-19 Fight', Says Sonia Gandhi To Nation