The Darjeeling district, four months after the unrest, remains tense even after the settlement with incidents of sporadic violence having become common.
ET Bureau
DARJEELING: The narrow path to the Tindharia Tea Estate off the picturesque National Highway 55 is a dirt track even in the best of times. But after over 100 days of a complete shutdown in the Darjeeling hills and a faceoff between the West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) since June 15, the winding 2 km ride now qualifies as among the world’s scariest.
Ajay Tamang, driver of a pick-up van, explains that the rains over the last couple of months have made matters worse; and, so far, even though a settlement was reached between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the Gorkhaland administration and the strike was lifted, repair work on the roads is yet to be taken up. Tamang, who grew up in the Tindharia estate, moved to Bhutan three months ago and found work as a driver. Now, he’s back.
The Darjeeling district, however, remains tense even after the settlement with incidents of sporadic violence having become common. On Friday, a sub-inspector of police was killed and four other policemen injured in crossfire between police forces and supporters loyal to the GJM leader Bimal Gurung, near Darjeeling town.
Gurung has been on the run following cases registered against him for unlawful activities, even as party vice-president Kalyan Dewan had announced the withdrawal of the strike on September 27, following an appeal by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Losses Incurred The pain of the past four months, however, won’t pass in a hurry. "All my life I have lived and worked in these tea gardens and despite many political unrests, we were never hit so hard in the past. Over the last 100 days we have faced severe hardship and had to forage around in the forests to pick fruit and roots for food since we did not receive our daily wages," says Ram Pahan, a labourer who lives in Tindharia.
As work starts at the tea estates after the long and unprecedented closure, Anshuman Kanoria, managing partner of Balaji Agro International, the company that owns the Tindharia Tea Estate, is worried about the absenteeism among the permanent workforce. "The tea gardens are the largest employment generator in the region and never before have they been shut down for such a long time. Many of our permanent workers have left in search of work elsewhere and this when we have a huge task ahead of clearing up the weeds that cover the tea bushes and then pruning them down to the size suitable for plucking," says Kanoria.
Since the plantations opened on October 3, there has been no plucking of leaves or production of tea and the factory lies idle. For the largely exportbased Darjeeling tea industry, which is staring at under 30% of its annual tea production this calendar year, the next year too looks gloomy with little chance of production resuming in time for the premium first flush crop. The second flush this year has already been badly hit.
In pic: SOOM TEA ESTATE Area: 283 hectares Permanent workers employed: 676 Chamong Group operates 13 estates in Darjeeling Chairman: Ashok Kumar Lohia Other estates owned by the group: Chamong, Pussimbing, Lingia, Tumsong, Shree Dwarika, Nagri Farm, Dhajea, Marybong, Bannockburn, Phoobsering, Tukdah & Ging
Cleaning operations at most of the tea estates are likely to take another month after which winter will set in and the tea bushes will lie dormant, warns Sandeep Mukherjee, principal advisor to the Darjeeling Tea Association. "While last year the industry produced around 8.5 million tonnes, this year we are looking at losses of Rs 400-500 crore," he says.
But the erosion of the Darjeeling brand in global markets like UK, Germany, Japan and US, is also a cause for concern - despite Darjeeling tea being the first GI-tagged product of India, in 2004-05. (A GI, or geographical indication, is defined under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights as indications that identify goods as originating in the territory of a region or locality where a given quality or reputation or characteristic is attributable to the geographic origin.)
A fledgling industry that has also been hit is tea tourism, an offshoot for the gardens which in recent years have faced various challenges. Makaibari tea estate, which produces one of the most famous Darjeeling tea brands, supports a homestay programme in which many of the workers participate.
In Pic: MAKAIBARI TEA ESTATE First tea factory in India set up in 1859 by Girish Chandra Banerjee in Kurseong Valley In 2015, grandson Rajah Banerjee sold a majority stake in his tea estate to the Luxmi group, but continues to manage it as chairman In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted Makaibari tea to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth when he met her at Buckingham Palace Area: 750 hectares Permanent workers employed: 650
"The former owner and chairman of the estate, Rajah Banerjee, started this as a concept in 2012. We have over 1,000 tourists annually staying with our families. It provides us with extra income," says Nayan Lama, coordinator of the programme. At Rs 800 per person per night inclusive of simple home-cooked meals, European backpackers find it an attractive way of exploring the tea gardens. "The management has supported us in a big way and we can take the visitors to explore the gardens and even go on hill walks or bird-watching at just Rs 100 extra," says Pranay Bhujel whose wife Dipika is a worker at the estate. But the last few months have been terrible for tourism. "All bookings for the rest of the year too have been cancelled." A historic tea estate set up in 1854 is Happy Valley near Darjeeling town. Owned by the Ambootia Tea Group, the largest producer of Darjeeling tea, it runs sightseeing tours and tea tastings for day visitors. Another large tea producer, the Chamong group of gardens, has opened up three of its estates - Chamong, Tumsong and Ging - for high-end tourism.
AMBOOTIA TEA ESTATE Ambootia Tea Group The largest producer of Darjeeling tea Director-camp: Anil Bansal No. of workers: Over 900 Area: 966 hectares
"Many of our overseas customers want to come and stay for a few days amidst the picturesque gardens. Our luxury resorts had been pre-booked till next March, but the closure has impacted tourism in a big way," rues Indranil Ghosh, director of operations and plantations at the Chamong Group. Of course, tourism is not the only problem that the group is facing. A producer of 1.2 million tonnes of premium Darjeeling tea with an annual turnover of around Rs 75 crore, it is one of the biggest in the business. Ghosh fears are that there will be no further production this year and losses will run into summer next year as well.
Recovery Process Rohit Lohia, director of the Chamong group, reckons that without the help of the central government and the West Bengal government it will be very difficult for the Darjeeling tea companies to recover from this blow. "As a part of the settlement when the gardens reopened, we have already paid the first instalment of the 19.75% bonus to our workers. We are seeking help from the commerce ministry through a 25-30% subsidy and from the state government through the MNREGA scheme to pay workers for maintenance and other work inside the estates."
Anil Bansal, director-camp at the Ambootia Tea Estate, too feels that the government should step in to support the Darjeeling tea industry, a forex earner as well as the supporter of a huge community of workers.
"Even during the bandh, we supported our workers to maintain their kitchen gardens, provided cereals and grocery supplies. There are many generations of workers, at least half of whom are women, who are educated in our schools and provided with lifelong medical facilities," says Bansal. The group is the largest producer of Darjeeling teas and with 14 gardens has a tunover of Rs 100 crore.
Dr S Sannigrahi, senior advisory officer & principal scientist at Tea Research Association, has been travelling across different estates ever since the strike was lifted. "I'm worried about the quality and quantity of the crop over the next two seasons with so much seed dispersal of weeds having taken place. Most of the gardens are organic with no use of pesticides," he warns.
Not everyone, however, is unhappy over the outcome of the long-drawn out political shutdown in the hills of Darjeeling. Pranam Rasily, Central Committee member of the GJM-affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, firmly believes that the agitation has helped to bring the longstanding demand of a separate state for the Gurkhas upfront before the central government.
"And the agitation has given confidence to the tea garden workers of Darjeeling, who have been fighting for an increase in the minimum interim wages of Rs 132 per day, to press for talks to resolve this issue quickly," says Rasily. The political agitation in Darjeeling was preceded by a strike by the tea workers trade unions for a wage revision.
The tale of Darjeeling Tea's auction J Kalyanasundaram, secretary of Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA), is a worried man. With more than 30 years of experience in the tea auction business, he has never seen auctions for Darjeeling teas being dropped for non-availability in the peak season when both domestic and overseas buyers flock to buy this premium leaf. "There are no Darjeeling teas for auctions in October. This is an unprecedented situation," said Kalyanasundaram.
Arrivals of Darjeeling tea at the auctions started declining from the second week of July and prices starting climbing up in tandem with lower supplies. While the average price of Darjeelings in July 2016 was "447/kg, it went up by 36 per cent in July 2017 to "610 per kg. Supply declined by 55 per cent to 1.26 lakh kg in July.
In the second sale in August, Darjeeling tea commanded a price of "1,273.83 per kg for an offering of 8,800 kg. In the same sale last year price was "338.59 per kg as the offering was much higher at 80,000 kg.
In September, only 5,300 kg of Darjeeling tea was offered in the auctions as against 3.02 lakh kg in September 2016. "And in October there is no tea that can be put up sale. This has never happened," said Kalyanasundaram. The bulk of Darjeeling tea is exported to the UK, Germany, Japan and the US. This year exports of second flush premium Darjeeling tea have been severely affected.
The biggest fear of the planters now is losing the markets, both in India and abroad, due a disruption in supply. "Nepalese tea sellers are appointing dealers and agents here who have a local GST number. They are getting better prices for their teas in India following the shortage of Darjeeling tea," said SS Bagaria, former chairman of Darjeeling Tea Association. -By Sutanuka Ghosal
ET Bureau
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