TEs in Doomdooma suffer due to instability in gas supply, theft of green tea leaves
DOOMDOOMA, June 20 - Tea gardens of Dooomdooma Gas Grid are facing serious difficulties in running their factories due to erratic supply of gas. In a letter addressed to the Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia district on June 18, the secretary of Zone � 1 of Assam Branch Indian Tea Association (ABITA), Madhurjya Barooah highlighted serious difficulties being faced by nearly 22 tea gardens in running their factories.
�Gas pressure is constantly fluctuating bringing production to a sudden halt time and again thus causing tremendous loss of man-days, productivity and revenues,� wrote Barooah in his letter.
�The impact of erratic gas supply can be significant and far-reaching. We would like to put on record that the disruption faced can lead to the temporary closure or shut down of the tea estate factories in the days ahead which would mean direct loss of employment for many workers employed across 22 tea estates in addition to discontinuation of procurement of green leaf from small tea growers,� Barooah added.
ABITA sought for the kind intervention of the DC, Tinsukia and immediate measures to rectify the situation.
It can be mentioned here that the Oil India Limited (OIL) is the producer of the natural gas which is being supplied to the tea gardens in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts by Assam Gas Company Limited (AGCL). The two districts have a total of six gas grids.
Meanwhile, the Resident Chief Executive of OIL, Duliajan in a letter informed the DC, Tinsukia that after the blowout at BGR-5 of Baghjan Oilfield of OIL, there were a lot of protests by various organisations resulting in forceful closure of the wells in the vicinity, leading to loss of a huge quantity of crude oil and natural gas and in consequence of it, the normal supply of gas to the tea factories had been affected.
On the other hand, a few tea gardens in Doomdooma Circle have also been burdened with the problem of green leaf theft. Fed up with the frequent theft of green tea leaves from the garden during night, the labourers of Hapjan Tea Estate of Apeejay Tea Ltd situated here staged a protest in the garden on Saturday morning. Later, they submitted a memorandum to the district civil and police administration demanding immediate arrest of those who were involved in this theft and exemplary punishment for them.
