North Bengal Rains Damage Small Tea Growers

Kolkata, Oct 7 (PTI) The recent incessant and torrential rains in North Bengal have caused insurmountable damage to small tea growers (STGs) in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts, for which financial assistance would be sought from both the Centre and West Bengal governments, a spokesperson of the STGs said on Tuesday.

In Nagrakata and Banerhat blocks in the Dooars area of Jalpaiguri, the STGs are mostly affected, president of Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (CISTA) Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty said.

"The rains have caused heavy damage to the STGs in North Bengal. We are assessing the extent of the damage as many of the estates are still underwater. We will subsequently seek financial relief from both the Centre and state governments", Chakraborty said.

He said that more than 50,000 small tea growers are functioning in North Bengal with an average area of less than one hectare. The STGs contribute to 64 per cent of total tea production in West Bengal, he said.

North Bengal produces annually around 280 million kilogrammes of tea.

According to him, most of the small tea gardens near Jaldhaka river in Maynaguri have been fully submerged under water for the last two days.

Chakraborty said in areas where the water levels are receding, deposition of silt was observed on tea plants.

"This would be a huge financial loss to the STGs. Besides this, damage to the road infrastructure would cause a problem for dispatch of green tea leaves to the factories", he said.

Absenteeism of the workers has also been noticed in the last two days, he added. PTI dc