A special team of Tea Board officials inspected several gardens in North Bengal to determine the quality of leaves manufactured in these estates.
An official of the Tea Board told PTI that several samples have been collected from these estates and their quality will be determined.
"The operation was conducted at various tea gardens in North Bengal over the last several days on a large scale. Tea Board has collected samples from these estates and future course of action will be determined as per provisions of the Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO)," the official said.
President of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (CISTA) Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty said "We welcome the action taken by Tea Board in inspecting several gardens of North Bengal. We demand that exemplary action be taken against these entities so that it becomes a deterrent in future".
Chakraborty said CISTA had come to learn that some tea gardens are procuring tea waste from Assam and mixing it with green leaves produced at the estates.
"We have informed the Tea Board of these malpractices by these gardens. As per rules, two per cent of the total production of any garden should be declared as tea waste", he said.
This waste should be used either for manufacturing instant tea or for producing organic manure, he said.
"Even these unscrupulous gardens were mixing artificial colours to the waste and mixing with green leaves", he said.
By mixing tea waste with green leaves, the profit margins become higher, adding that nearly 20 million kilogrammes of these teas are being sold every year. "So this has become a lucrative business proposition for these unscrupulous gardens", he said.
Tea Board had time and now emphasised the shared responsibility of all stakeholders towards ensuring the safety of tea. "Tea shall be free from any extraneous matter, added colouring material and harmful substances", the official said.
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