Four tea factories in Ilam resume operation

Four tea factories of Ilam have resumed operations from Tuesday after a 10-day long strike by the tea workers, reports said.

The factories have started the operations after the tea farmers pressurised the management.

Green tea leaves worth Rs 15 million is reported to have been wasted following the strike.

The meeting organised by Eastern Small Tea Farmers (ESTF) at Fikkal, Ilam asked the management to start the operations of the factories arguing that this is the peak season for plucking green tea leaves.

The meeting held between the factory workers, farmers and the factory-owners decided to reopen the four factories.

Those factories reopened were Small Tea Pvt Ltd, Ilam Tea Production, Himalayan Renchaty and Shree Antu Tea Pvt Ltd. However, the remaining tea factories are still closed due to delay in agreement between the factory owners and the workers.

All the tea factories were closed down after the workers put forth demands for better wage and working conditions.

The strike has affected 32 tea estates and 37 processing centers.

According to entrepreneurs, 500,000 kilograms of tea leaves went waste each day in Jhapa district alone due to the strike called by the workers. nepalnews.com pb Aug 24 06

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