Mamata Banerjee Criticizes Center for Endangering North Bengal Tea Industry Livelihoods

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Narendra Modi administration was putting around 10 lakh people connected to the little tea industry in north Bengal in danger of losing their means of subsistence.

Mamata, who has spent the last several days in Jalpaiguri's Chalsa, said that a direction from the Center has put these individuals and their families in danger.

Since Monday, there has been a crisis in the small-scale tea industry as bought-leaf factories (BLFs), or independent tea processing facilities, that purchase tea from small-scale tea producers, have ceased to accept their teas unless they are accompanied by certain lab test findings.

This is due to the decision made by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the Tea Board to regularly inspect tea processing facilities to see if any tea contains prohibited pesticides or fertilizers. An experienced tea farmer said, "If such a presence is found in any sample, the entire quantity of tea has to be destroyed and cannot be sold in the market."

"The directive was issued ahead of the elections and is affecting the livelihood of these people," Mamata remarked in an interview with reporters. Is this one more ruse? Prior to the Prime Minister's arrival, the situation has been cultivated. He will now arrive and promise to take care of things. He has previously said that he will restore shuttered gardens in 2019."

On April 4, Modi is expected to visit Jalpaiguri and give a speech at a public gathering at a location in the Dhupguri block. Mamata is scheduled to appear to a similar gathering in Mathabhanga, Cooch Behar, on the same day.

The North Bengal Tea Producers’ Welfare Association, which represents BLFs owing to their lack of plantations, has chosen to only purchase tea leaves from small tea producers who have FSSAI compliance test results on maximum residue limit (MRL) criteria as of April 1. Many small tea farmers are therefore without customers.

The small tea industry in Bengal produces around 65% of the state's total tea production, with tea plantations providing the remaining 25%. In the area, there are over fifty thousand small growers.

The Confederation of Indian Small Tea producers Associations president, Bijoygopal Chakraborty, said that the organization has begun a campaign among producers to guarantee that no chemical or fertilizer that is prohibited is used on plantations.

The industry supports over 10 lakh individuals in total, many of whom being first-generation rural business owners. A tiny tea planter cannot afford to have each batch of leaves examined in a lab. We're not sure how to escape this predicament," he said.

According to Chakraborty, a lot of producers use laborers to harvest tea leaves. "How can we pay employees their salary if we are unable to sell the leaves? We worry about labor unrest in the industry," he said.

A little Jalpaiguri-based tea planter said they are unable to hold the BLFs responsible. "Producers will be held accountable if any tea has prohibited chemicals, regardless of the source of the tea, as the tea board and affiliated agencies have stated clearly," the man stated.

Mamata said that the Center moved too quickly after learning about the situation from Anit Thapa, the chief administrator of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

The order comes on quickly. It will take some time for the growers to become used to the new setup. Mamata said, "Such a decision is unacceptable without an alternative plan."

Additionally, she requested that state labor minister Moloy Ghatak investigate the matter. "Across the nation, the number of unemployed persons is continuously rising. The chief minister said, "Now, the Center is trying to make these people (tea growers) unemployed."