The Darjeeling Tea industry is getting jittery just before the start of the premium first flush plucking this time, as both the workers and political parties are on an agitation path.
Sources said that workers of a tea garden in Mirik refused to take up specific jobs that were related to the first flush on Friday.
“A section of the workers, mostly female, refused to undertake the assigned jobs and instead demanded that issues like bonus, minimum wages and rate of extra leaf plucking be settled first,” said a source.
Many planters are worried at the development as any compromise on first flush production — most of which is exported and commands the highest price, ould spell doom for the industry already besieged by rising production costs and falling realisations.
“First flush plucking will start from February 27 across the hills. We are closely monitoring the situation,” said a planter.
The first flush plucking usually continues till mid-April. This is then followed by second-flush, monsoon and autumn flush plucking and production.
Workers, Opposition parties and apolitical fronts in north Bengal have started protesting chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent announcement to increase land share for non-tea activities from 15 per cent to 30 per cent in tea estates.
“Today (Saturday), the WB Govt has made this Gazette notification public, which is dated 7th February 2025,” Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said on his verified Facebook account.
Bista said that the notification was made without any deliberation in the
Bengal Assembly.
“In addition to flouting various land laws, this is also in contravention of the Tea Act of 1953, where all changes in the tea garden structure have to be approved by the Tea Board of India,” wrote Bista.
The Darjeeling MP said that he had reached out to the Union commerce ministry and the Tea Board and requested them to take up the issue with the Bengal government.
On Wednesday, BJP MLAs staged a walkout to protest the Speaker’s refusal to allow a discussion on an adjournment motion over the tea land issue.
Apart from the BJP, the Ajoy Edwards-led Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) has also protested the notification.
Pratap Khati of Chai Suraksha Samiti, an organisation that works on tea garden-related issues, said that they were exploring both legal and ground to protest against the notification.
“We will explore legal provisions to challenge the notification and on the other hand we will also hit the streets to protest this notification,” said Khati.