Plea for curb on fake Darjeeling Tea .....In 2018, tea production in Darjeeling climbed to 7.7 million kilos and in 2019, the production was 7.8 million kilos

Avijit Sinha, TT, 18 February 2020, Siliguri: The Darjeeling Tea Association has written to the Tea Board of India seeking intervention to enforce its order in 2014 to prevent illegal import of brew made in Nepal.

Kaushik Basu, the secretary general of the DTA, sent the letter to the controller of licensing at the Tea Board. The letter said tea of other origins, including Nepal, is being sold in the country as Darjeeling Tea, which was accorded the GI tag.

“In 2017, the Darjeeling tea industry had suffered a loss of around 70 per cent in production (as compared to the production of 2016). This led to a vacuum in the market which made some people bring in outside tea and merchandise it as Darjeeling Tea. This is severely affecting the industry as these people are not following the directives issued by the board,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal advisor to the DTA.

In 2016, the tea production in Darjeeling was 8.45 million kilos which dropped to 3.1 million kilos in 2017 because of statehood agitation. In 2018, it climbed to 7.7 million kilos and in 2019, the production was 7.8 million kilos.

In 2014, the then Tea Board chairman, Siddharth, had issued an order restricting illegal influx of foreign tea in the country. As per the order, an importer will have to inform the place of storage of such tea within 24 hours of the entry in India.

“It was also mentioned that the origin and contents of imported tea should be mentioned during distribution or sale and also, no such tea should be passed off as teas of Indian origin,” said a tea planter.

The DTA, however, pointed out that the order had not been properly implemented by the board.

“Many importers do not comply with the order. That is why we have urged the board to take necessary steps,” Mukherjee said.