The Tea Board has asked gardens in many states in the east, north-east and north India -- except Assam -- to stop plucking from December 15.
The board's order in this direction will apply to all tea manufacturing units situated in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it said.
The last date for intimating to the Tea Board regarding closure of manufacturing is December 17, and that for completion of sorting, packing of CTC, orthodox tea and moving the packs to notified storage areas with invoice marking is December 27 (for CTC) and December 31 for the orthodox variety, the order said.
The objective of the move is to reduce inferior quality of teas, a senior official of the board said.
Welcoming the decision, Rudra Chatterjee, Director of Luxmi Tea Co Pvt Ltd, said, "The crop quality generally starts deteriorating from November and gets worse by mid-December. To stop plucking and selling of the poor quality, the Tea Board has exercised its powers in this regard."
The Tea Board said any violation of the order would attract necessary action stipulated under the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, 2003.
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