Tea Board orders closure of factories in Dec to curb poor tea production

The Tea Board exercising the Tea

Marketing Control Order has directed all factories to stop manufacture of the beverage starting early December in order to stop production of inferior quality of teas.

The order will be mandatory for all the gardens in Darjeeling, Sikkim, Assam, Dooars and Terai regions of north Bengal, Tea Board sources said.

For Assam, the last date for closure of the factories has been fixed on December 12, while for Sikkim the date is December 7. It is December 21 for Dooars and the Terai region.

Tea Board chairman P K Bezbaruah said, "I am happy that the Tea Board is taking steps to eliminate some of the bad teas from the system. I suggest that they should also inspect the factories shortly after closure to check whether any produce is lying there".

If the Tea Board finds any produce in the factories after the closure, it should be analysed and if it is found to be not up to the mark, the produce should be categorised as tea waste.

Rudra Chatterjee, MD of Luxmi Tea, said that the beverage is hardly produced in north India in December and most of the estates prune the tea bushes then.

"Only very inferior teas are produced during the period. We welcome the Tea Board's action which has stopped this inferior tea production for the past few years," he said.