The flavour of Darjeeling

[Tea Plantation Workers - Related News]

Closing of tea gardens and factories is a new phenomenon in West Bengal, particularly in the Terai region of Darjeeling district. In the last five years about 100 tea gardens and factories were closed down in the area. The managements, which include the government, blame drought, increased expenditure and issues with trade unions for the closures. But workers, after days of poverty and sufferings, have started taking up the management of many of the closed tea gardens.