New Delhi
20 June 2008
Political unrest in India's eastern hills is hitting the famed tea andtourist industries in the region. Anjana Pasricha, reports from NewDelhi, India is the world's largest tea producer.
June isusually one of the busiest months across hundreds of tea plantationsthat lie on the Darjeeling hills in India's West Bengal state.
It is the time of the year when workers are busy plucking fresh leaves off blooming tea bushes.
Buta strike called by the ethnic "Gorkha" group demanding a separate statehas raised fears that exports of the famed Darjeeling tea will be hitthis year.
The protest has disrupted transport links, blocked roads, and shut down many businesses.
Rajiv Lochan, secretary of the Siliguri Tea Traders Association, says the strike has
affected operations in the region's tea estates.
"Thereis a drop in production, there is a drop in quality which is a veryserious concern because this is the best time for production, and weare not able to pluck the
leaves in time from the bush, so the disruption in the plucking season has greatly impaired the quality," Lochan said.
Theindustry estimates that it is piling up losses of half a milliondollars a day due to the strike, and exports could be down by 25percent this year.
The region produces about 10 millionkilograms of high quality brews - the fragrant Darjeeling teas areconsidered the finest in the world. Much of it is exported to the
Middle East, Pakistan, Russia and Germany.
Tea is not the only industry to be affected by political unrest in the region.
Touristshave also been scared away from the region after protestors blocked akey highway. Thousands who were in the hills when trouble broke outearlier this month left
the region. Others have cancelled bookings.
About half a million tourists visit the region every year in the summer months.
The tea and tourism industries are the mainstay of the local economy in the region.
Indiaaccounts for about one-third of the global production of tea. Not allof it is grown on the Darjeeling hills - there are sprawling teaestates in other hilly regions as well.
The protestors have warned their strike will continue until the federal government opens talks with them.