Lockdown: Bengal small tea growers seek govt clarification for operations

Kolkata, Apr 14 () Small tea growers in West Bengalhave sought clarification from the government on its orderwhich allowed skiffing and plucking operations in the gardenswith 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 thetea production in the state, have not started pluckingoperations as they are not sure whether the bought-leaffactories (BLFs) can buy leaves from them for processingduring the lockdown, he said."We have sought clarification from the governmentwhether the STGs can sell their crop to the BLFs or not as perthe government order," Confederation of Indian Small TeaGrowers Association (Cista) president Bijoy Gopal Chakrabortytold .

The order does not mention about operations of BLFswhich buy leaves from small growers, he said."We have requested the chief secretary forclarification. We did not get the first flush and now pluckingis practically stopped due to the confusion," he said.According to him, the BLFs in states such as Tripura, Assamand Kerala are buying leaves from the small tea growers.However, most of the tea gardens in Darjeeling have startedproduction with the limited workforce after the governmentallowed plucking operations.Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) chairman Binod Mohansaid production has started in 90 per cent of the gardenssince plucking was allowed.Chamong Tea has also commenced operations at itsgardens with the stipulated labour force, chairman A Lohiasaid.Some of the gardens like Makaibari are not able torestart operations fully."We are now doing skiffing operations and will have towait for production to start," Luxmi Tea director RudraChatterjee said.Indian Tea Association (ITA) secretary general ArijitRaha said, "We will urge the government to increase theworkforce percentage to 50 from 25 per cent now."The local administrations are also keeping a check onwhether the tea gardens are maintaining social distancingnorms and other safety practices to contain the coronavirusoutbreak, he added. DCBDC BDC