Jorhat, June 14: The tea industry is wilting under the impact of the ongoing heat wave with activities in many gardens in Upper Assam being affected by the scorching sun.

The managements of several gardens declared a half-day yesterday as labourers were unable to work under the blazing sun, which shot the mercury up to a record 37 degrees Celsius.

“I have declared a half-day today because of the heat. It is simply unbearable out there,” said Indranil Sarmah, the owner of Sotai tea estate here.

Several gardens have directed their labourers to start work earlier in the morning so that they can finish plucking and retreat from the gardens early. Activities in most gardens in Upper Assam start at 7am but in the last few days, labourers have been asked to start work at 6 in the morning.

“As it is the peak production season we have to carry on despite the heat. So we have asked the workforce to start early,” the manager of a tea garden in Dibrugarh district said.

Vikas Joshi of Numaligarh tea estate in Golaghat district said the management had asked the labourers to stop work half-an-hour earlier than the regular 4pm and were supplying drinking water frequently to them.

“Tea bushes are also drying up in some sections in the gardens because of the heat,” he added.

Industry sources said the heat wave had hit productivity as the labourers were not being able to give their best to their work.

“If a labourer was plucking 30kg of leaves per day, he is now plucking 20-25kg,” an official at Healekah tea estate here said.

The absentees have also increased since the heat wave started as workers are falling ill frequently.

“Last year at this time there were only 50 persons admitted in our garden hospital on an average because of summer diseases but this year the figure has gone up to 100,” the official said.

Data from the meteorology department of the Assam Agricultural University shows that Jorhat’s temperatures in the last four days (from June 11) have been 36.8, 37, 36.4 and 37 degrees Celsius while last year it was 31.5, 33, 30 and 29.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

“Late arrival of the monsoon and a bright clear sky have been the main reasons for the rise in temperature in the last few days. The heat wave is likely to continue for the next few days,” an AAU scientist said.

R.M. Bhagat, a scientist at Tocklai Experimental Station here, said the unprecedented heat wave could have a severe impact on the tea bushes if there was no rain in the next few days.

“The temperature this week has risen quite high and is more than what it was last year around this time. If this trend continues, it would be detrimental to tea plants. Photosynthesis is affected, which, in turn, adversely affects the growth of shoots. This sudden rise in temperature, which is being witnessed more recently, is an offshoot of climate change triggered by global warming,” Bhagat said.

He said the temperature registered at Tocklai today, 37.5 degrees Celsius, was the highest since 1979.

Jorhat deputy commissioner R.C. Jain declared a local holiday today because of the heat wave. However, June 22 will be a working day.