Jalpaiguri, Aug. 28: A meeting held by the Jalpaiguri divisional commissioner to hammer out a consensus on the fixation of minimum price for green tealeaf, ended in disaster today with small tea-growers announcing an indefinite strike from September 5.
The immediate provocation for the strike call was the refusal of the bought-leaf factories (BLFs) to toe the line of the small tea planters, who have been demanding a price-fixation policy.
Divisional commissioner Debaditya Chakraborty had proposed — much to the liking of the small tea planters — that bought-leaf factories purchase green tealeaf at a standard rate of Rs 5 a kg.The bought-leaf factories had nixed the proposal.
Immediately after the failed meet, the small tea-growers went into a huddle. They came out with the decision that all operations in the small tea plantations across Siliguri, North Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri would be shut down indefinitely after September 5, if prices did not climb.
Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, the convener of United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Association, said: “The price of green tea had tumbled from Rs 5 a kg during the summer months to Re 1 in the current season. It does even cover our cost of production. If the price of tea does not improve till September, we have decided to strike.” The North Bengal Small Tea Planters’ Association, another apex body of small tea growers, is also backing the forum.
The strike is expected to deal a major blow to the 64 BLFs in the area who source their tealeaves from the small planters. It is also bad news for the already down-in-dumps tea industry.
J.K. Gupta, the president of the North Bengal Tea Producers Association, said: “We had no option but to dump the proposal. It is not feasible for us.”
He denied that green tealeaves were bought at Re 1 a kg. “We have bought most of the produce at Rs 4 a kg. There may be a few isolated cases where the price dipped below Rs 4 for every kg but it never reached the Re-1 level.”
According to Chakraborty, the matter now had to be sorted out by both parties. “It is up to them how they reach a consensus.”
