The Bengal government has decided to set up two laboratories in Terai and Dooars in north Bengal to check food safety compliance of teas, ensuring quality of the beverage.

The decision of the state follows a meeting conducted by the labour minister Moloy Ghatak where chief secretary Manoj Pant and industry secretary Vandana Yadav were present along with the stakeholders of tea industry and other senior bureaucrats of the government earlier this week to discuss the issues related to the tea gardens, a major source of organised employment.

It will be the first such facility in north Bengal and is expected to tackle complaints of quality of teas that are available in the market for consumption, especially the imports from Nepal. The Panitanki check post near Siliguri on the Indo-Nepal border is the most important hub for Nepalese teas coming to this country.

“The minister stated that a task force would be formed to monitor and look into the compliance issues of tea and would involve scientists from the Tea Research Association. He also informed that two new labs will be set up,” TRA secretary Joydeep Phukan, who participated in the meeting, said.

The meeting followed a gazette notification on February 11 seeking to enforce higher compliance of teas with reference to banned pesticides and insecticides. The West Bengal Tea Directorate, in collaboration with the additional labour commissioner, north Bengal zone, was asked to immediately implement measures to prevent the use and stocking of prohibited, banned or restricted insecticides/pesticides in tea gardens.

Moreover, steps would be required to be taken to stop the unauthorised sale of tea that has been cultivated using such prohibited, banned or restricted chemicals within Bengal, the notification added.

It also stated that customs officials stationed at international border check posts (such as Panitanki) shall permit tea carrying vehicles entering Bengal only if they possess a valid tea testing clearance report by the notified lab or competent authority. Provisions have been made to draw samples and send it for testing labs which are now being mooted.

Apart from the compliance issue, the meeting also discussed the issue of garden closures in north Bengal at the behest of the Tea Board. A section of small tea growers is exhorting the duration of the closure period to be shortened in the winter of 2025.