GUWAHATI: Tea gardens across Assam have suffered extensive damage due to recent floods, with silt and mud burying large sections of the plantations and drainage systems, according to the Assam Branch of the Tea Association of India.
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Speaking to media, Dipanjol Deka, Secretary of the Assam Branch of the Tea Association of India, said the full extent of the damage has not yet been calculated, as most sections of the affected gardens remain covered in silt and mud. He said labour quarters had also suffered heavy damage, with one or two gardens seeing their factories damaged as well. Boundpro Tea Estate was among the worst-hit, he said, describing its condition as very bad.
Deka said that section-wise assessment of tea loss is still not possible, and that gardens where drainage systems have been buried under mud have not been able to resume plucking. He estimated that clearing these areas and restoring them to earlier conditions could take the entire season.
Elaborating further, Deka said large sections of the tea bushes will likely die off once the silt hardens, as it becomes very difficult to clean at that stage, causing leaves to fall off immediately. Among the worst-affected areas, he named Bamunpukhuri as the hardest hit, followed by Borsila and Bihubor.
He said labourers have also suffered losses beyond the gardens themselves, including the loss of cattle. Deka added that while the Association is still calculating overall production losses, some assessments have already been completed, including the extent of damage to sections and bushes, and the number of labour lines affected.
He noted that even where the crop recovers, production would still be hit in gardens where the factory itself has been damaged, since processing would not be possible. Deka said extensive cleaning work needs to be carried out across the affected tea gardens before normal operations can resume.