Dibrugarh tea garden workers receive masks

Rajib Dutta | TNN | Apr 22, 2020, 09:52 IST

An official in Dibrugarh hands over a mask to a tea garden worker

DIBRUGARH: With most of the 800-odd tea gardens in the state having resumed work with 50% workforce, the authorities are not taking any chances as far as the health of the workers are concerned amid the Covid-19 threat.
In Dibrugarh district, the process of distribution of protective masks have already begun in the tea gardens from April 20.
Officials said that as many as 3.4-lakh three-layered protective masks will be provided to the workers in the 177 registered big tea gardens of the district. The tea gardens have been allowed to function with some preconditions like deployment of a maximum of 50 per cent of the workforce, keeping social distance and hygiene, and wearing masks.
“After weeks of suspension of work due to the lockdown, the tea gardens have resumed operation with 50% capacity. Plucking and tea processing have started in the gardens. Under the National Health Mission, 2.4-lakh threelayered masks have been alloted for the tea garden workers of Dibrugarh district.
Under this initiative, 1,13,285 plantation workers of 177 tea estates in the district will be provided three protective masks each,” Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha on Tuesday said. He further added that the tea industry has been directed to ensure strict compliance with social distancing norms and proper hygiene practices in the tea gardens. “The tea gardens have been allowed to function subject to fulfilment of various criteria as laid down under Covid-19 control protocol. The relaxation will be withdrawn if any garden is found violating the rules.
Maintenance of social distancing and other precautionary measures in tea gardens, factories, ration shops and workers’ line is being strictly monitored by the circle officers with the assistance of welfare officers and garden managers.
The same criteria is also applicable to small tea gardens,” the DC said. On Tuesday, workers in several tea estates of the district, including Ethelwood, Durgapur, Jamira, Jalan Nagar, Ghooronia, Mancotta, Bokpara, Ganeshbari, Bokel, Manohari, Ashabam, Khowang and Lepetkatta, were given protective masks by health authorities.
The entire process of distribution is expected to be over in all the 177 tea gardens by Thursday. According to the tea industry, the production of tea in Assam is expected to be less this year due to a late start of plucking due to the lockdown.
The delay in tea plucking is said to have done irreversible harm to the tea gardens as the first flush (spring flush), which is the very first plucking of a tea plant’s harvest season, starts in late March and continues till April in Assam. Since tea bushes have grown much beyond their stipulated height during the lockdown, all the extra leaves will have to be pruned and thrown away.
In 2019, Assam’s tea production had reached an all time-high of 715.79 million kg, which was 51.5% of the country’s production.