GTA merger nudge to planter associations - Gurung wants one body for Darjeeling Tea

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Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, June 6: The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration at a meeting with representatives of the Darjeeling Tea industry today proposed a merger of its two planters’ associations. 

The meeting was convened at the Darjeeling Gymkhana Club and even though Trilok Dewan, the Darjeeling MLA, said the “general view” among the planters was for a merger of the Darjeeling Tea Association and the Darjeeling Indian Tea Association, sources said the GTA’s proposal would not be accepted. 

Dewan said: “A proposal for the merger of the two associations was made by Shri Bimal Gurung. The general view was that there should be one association as Darjeeling has its own brand value. I would not say a consensus has been reached as the respective associations have to revert the issue to the higher-ups.” 

Around 26 of the 86 tea gardens in Darjeeling broke from the Darjeeling Tea Association to form the Darjeeling Indian Tea Association in 2010. Any merger of the associations would increase the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s clout in the tea industry, one of the two sectors driving the hill economy. 

The other is tourism. A source, who was present at the meeting, said: “A request was definitely made by the honourable chief executive of GTA, Shri Bimal Gurung (who was present at the meeting), that the two associations should merge. The inside story is that the two associations have been formed for the betterment of the industry and there is no consensus on merger of the associations.” 

The source did not want to let on which tea association he was a member of, given the sensitive nature of the issue and Gurung’s insistence on merger of the two industry associations. 

Of late, Gurung has been stressing on the need to merge the two associations but many planters feel this would be a transgression on the planters’ choice to choose their own association. 

A planter, who did not want to be named, said the Morcha leadership was inclined to favour one particular association. He would not name which. “All of us are working for the betterment of the industry and no sides should be taken,” said the planter. 

Planters of both the associations said they were ready to work with the GTA for improving the lot of the tea workers. “The GTA stressed the need to focus on corporate social responsibility and both the associations have no problems working with the GTA to set up a hospital (for garden workers) as desired by the GTA,” said a source. 

The Morcha leadership has also demanded that the daily wage of workers be increased next year, when the three-year wage revision is due, from Rs 90 a day which they get now. 

“The GTA also wants to start manufacturing compost and wants us to buy from them. They also want local people to be given preference while employing staff in the gardens. All these issues can be worked out, except for the merger,” said a planter. 

The Darjeeling Tea industry has 55,000 permanent workers, apart from employing 16,000 temporary hands during the plucking season.