Tea planters in north Bengal have issued a caveat days before the Minimum Wages Advisory Committee meeting, stating that the implementation of the minimum pay at this moment will sound the death knell for the industry.

The Bengal government has decided to hold a meeting of the committee in Siliguri on Tuesday. The meeting comes days after Calcutta High Court’s deadline for the government to finalise the minimum wage in six months expired.

“The implementation of the minimum wage at this moment would sound the death knell for the industry. It would lead to chaos, bitterness and further unemployment in the entire region,” Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal advisor to the Darjeeling Tea Association, told The Telegraph on Saturday.

Darjeeling Tea planters maintain that the current production is at its lowest in the industry’s history of more than 170 years.

From a high of an annual production of around 14 million kgs, the industry is currently manufacturing around 6.5 million kgs of made tea. Many, however, blame a lack of investment by the planters and low wages leading to high absenteeism among workers for the low output.

Mukherjee, however, said: “Gardens which have shut down in north Bengal will not be able to reopen if the minimum wage is notified immediately.”

Around 15 tea gardens are currently closed in the region.

“The reopening of the gardens will hinge on the decision (of implementing the minimum wage),” said another tea planter.

The 24-member Minimum Wages Advisory Committee had been formed by the government in 2015 and has sat for 18 meetings so far.

The committee consists of representatives of the government, tea planters and trade unions.