Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce, will visit West Bengal next week, to take stock of the tea industry which is facing a crisis of high costs of production, poor quality and low prices.
During her second visit to the state beginning January 4, she will also look into the closure of tea gardens. Her first industry-interface took place in Assam.
About 20 tea gardens, majority belonging to one corporate group, are closed in the Dooars and Terai sub-Himalayan regions causing acute distress to the workers. Many deaths have also been reported at some of these estates.
A former Tea Board Chairman also expressed concern at the crisis in the tea industry at the annual general meeting of the apex association of the north Indian tea industry, the Indian Tea Association. There are some 377 gardens in West Bengal employing 2.6 lakh workers with an output of around 300 million kg and the problems are linked with the ageing tea bushes, poor yields and high labour costs.
During her visit in May, 2015 Ms. Sitharaman had said that the problem of closed tea gardens was a ‘legacy’ of the previous government which will have to be resolved.
