Blogger Tips and TricksLatest Tips And TricksBlogger Tricks

Pages

28 Jun 2013

Small tea growers threaten strike

Siliguri, June 27: Small tea growers of north Bengal today threatened to launch an indefinite strike and stop supplying leaves to bought-leaf factories, alleging rate disparity. The bought-leaf factory owners had yesterday alleged that small growers did not supply adequate leaves to them and instead sold them to garden owners at a higher price. If the small tea growers make good their threat, it will affect over a hundred gardens where over 2 lakh workers are employed. The factories, which collectively employ 1.5 lakh people, would also be affected. There are around 150 factories in north Bengal. The volume of bought-leaf factory tea released in the market makes up nearly 30 per cent of the total tea volume sold annually. Bijoygopal Chakraborty, president of Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Association, said: “The sole problem is the attempt by a section of bought-leaf factory owners to pay us less. On an average, the cost of production for a kg is around Rs 13 but most of the time, the BLFs bargain and pay less.” He added: “We have sought the tea board’s intervention and if such a situation persists… we would have no other option but to announce an indefinite strike.” Chakraborty said: “The allegation made by factory owners that we are not supplying leaves to them is baseless. Our members will surely sell their produce at the place where they get the best price. The factories always pay low, much to our disappointment. As tea leaves are perishable, the growers are forced to sell at lesser rates. We want an end to this practice, which is affecting the small tea sector and tea industry as a whole.” “The factories never fix the price of the leaves and display them in front of the factories, which they should as per guidelines of the tea board,” he said. The growers took up the issue with officials of the tea board today. Factory owners’ allegations are different. “Our factories… are entirely dependent on small growers,” said Prabir Seal, chairman of North Bengal Tea Producers’ Association (NBTPA). “It is wrong to say that factories don’t pay standard rates. The rates vary with the quality of leaves,” Seal said. Tea board officials, on being contacted, said they are looking into the issue.

Related Posts:

  • Teesta enters rural poll campaign Chief minister Mamata Banerjee may have turned the waters of the Teesta into a contentious issue, but for her party, Teesta is a success story in the panchayat polls. Erosion caused by the Teesta, lack of progress in t… Read More
  • Deadline for civic poll date Calcutta, July 17: Calcutta High Court today directed the state government and state election commission to sit together by tomorrow and fix within three days the dates of polling for 13 municipalities whose terms ended … Read More
  • Tamang accused held after custody slip Darjeeling, July 17: Dawa Sangay, an accused in the Madan Tamang murder case, was caught after he allegedly tried to flee police custody from Darjeeling district hospital where he had been admitted on June 22. Sangay wa… Read More
  • HS council book plan in court Calcutta, July 17: The West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education today placed a proposal before Calcutta High Court for settling the impasse over printing of Class XI textbooks requesting for status quo for this… Read More
  • Gurung calms hill SC, ST quota nerves Darjeeling, July 17: The Darjeeling District Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Joint Action Committee today said that Bimal Gurung had assured its members that the GTA would grant jobs to SCs and STs as proposed in a rec… Read More

0 comments: