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With a three-day bandh underway in Darjeeling, the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations, an apex body of tea producer associations in India, has asked the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to make the tea industry outside the purview of strikes.
In a letter to GJM President Bimal Gurung, CCPA said since the tea industry formed the social-economic mainstay of Darjeeling, continuing strikes had already caused serious disruption in the operations of the tea estates in hills.
Expressing grave concern over the 72 hour-strike in the Darjeeling hills since Monday and the threat of an indefinite shut-down, the CCPA submitted that tea production in Darjeeling was highly seasonal in nature and was underway only around April.
Following the first and second flush period, the Darjeeling tea industry has just entered the peak production period, the letter said.
Taking an average value of Rs 375 a kg of tea produced during this period, the total financial loss might have already crossed Rs 11 crore, CCPA said.
The tea industry would also be requiring uninterrupted sales to meet its bonus obligations in the ensuing festive period and disruptions could severely impact cash flows.
The CCPA therefore made an earnest plea to the GJM to exempt operations of the tea industry and transportation of tea and inputs for tea estates from the purview of any further shut-down.
