Gujarat tea scan on Dooars

TT, Jalpaiguri: A team of the Gujarat Tea Traders' Association is on tour in north Bengal to examine the variety of teas produced in the region.

On Sunday, the 25-member team, headed by president of the association Dinesh Karia, visited the Kailashpur tea estate located in Jalpaiguri's Malbazar block.

"We buy around 60 per cent of the teas from Assam while the remaining comes from Bengal. We are here to check out the CTC teas so that more teas can be bought from the region in the coming days," said Karia.

The team, sources said, reached north Bengal on Friday.

On Saturday, they had visited some of the tea gardens in the Dooars and has left for Siliguri from Kailashpur on Sunday. "On Monday, they are likely to visit some tea gardens in the Terai belt that also produces CTC teas," said a source.

Karia has asked the tea sellers to use different tags in tea packets sent to Gujarat from Bengal. "We want to identify whether the tea has been produced in a tea estate or in a bought-leaf factory. This is why we want that tea packets should bear different tags. Also, the sellers should take care of proper packaging," said the GTTA president.

Gujarat consumes tea worth around Rs 1,200 crore from Bengal and Assam, Karia said.