EVENTS

The valley of resilience

SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

THE story of Happy Valley Tea Estate, whose centenary celebrations kickstarted the Darjeeling carnival, is one of grit, sweat and tears of a hapless group of workers and their endeavour to keep alive their source of sustenance, long after their masters abandoned them.

Although 2003 is being celebrated as its centenary year, the estate was actually established in 1854. In 1903 it was taken over by an Indian, Tarapada Banerjee, a landed aristocrat from Hooghly. Its earlier owner, David Wilson an Englishman, had named the garden Wilson Tea Estate and by 1860 had started cultivation. However, the devastation brought about by landslides in 1899 made it impossible for the garden to be operational for a while. David Wilson died soon afterwards, leaving Wilson Tea Estate to his wife and brother-in-law. In 1929, Banerjee bought the neighbouring Windsor Tea Estate. He merged the two gardens and called the new garden Happy Valley.

However, by August 2000, the third generation down Tarapada Banerjee's line, the garden fell into hard times, and the owners abandoned Happy Valley, leaving the workers to their own fate. The garden was taken over by a Kolkata-based financier, Subhash Ghosh, to whom the Banerjee family was indebted. Still the workers did not receive their wages regularly. Refusing to give up hope, they formed a committee under the presidentship of local Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader Kishore Gurung to support the management's efforts and resolved to continue working to keep the garden alive.

Gurung told Frontline: "Our situation has gone from bad to worse. We have not been receiving either our wages or our ration and medical allowances. It is a hand-to-mouth existence for us. We don't even know where the next meal is going to come from, let alone coal and fire to keep us warm in the winter. But as long as we can, we will keep Happy Valley alive. There are 320 families dependent on it."

As of November 21, the workers had not received their wages for over six weeks, amounting to around Rs.6 lakhs. The salaries of the managerial staff have not been paid for the last three months, and these amount to Rs.90,000. Provident Fund contributions worth Rs.23.69 lakhs are pending and rations costing Rs.2.29 lakhs have been pending for the past 47 weeks. Electricity bills amounting to Rs.1.81 lakhs have been pending, and the telephone connection has been severed owing to the non-payment of bill. For the past two years the workers have not been given their medical dues.

The bushes in the garden are very old - the minimum age is 80 years, and some are even as old as 150 years - with hardly any re-plantations having been done in the recent past. Though the garden produces 50,000 to 55,000 kg of tea every year, the cost of production is Rs.180 a kg, when the price in the local markets is only Rs.110 a kg. The facilities in the factory are outdated and so the tea produced is not of good quality all the time. Often the income comes from direct sale from the garden to visiting buyers.

"I was born and brought up in this garden. My parents were workers here. Even though it is very hard for us now, I have explained to the workers that this is our garden and it is up to us to make it financially viable again. But without investments coming in, I don't know how long we shall be able to keep it going," said Gurung.

The Happy Valley, being the garden closest to Darjeeling town, and also being picturesque, generates a certain amount of interest among tourists. "Tourism is probably the only thing that can save the garden now," Suraj Sharma, a resident of Happy Valley and a participant in the campaign to keep the garden alive, told Frontline. "We are planning to develop this as a popular tourist site and charge an entry fee of Rs.10. We will also be opening a restaurant here and converting the manager's bungalow into a guest house. This way we will be able to generate some income and also sell our tea directly to our guests," said Sharma.

Happy Valley tea has excellent prospects in the international market. For one thing, no other garden in the world starts from an altitude as high as Happy Valley - 6,300 feet (1,890 metres). Owing to its high perch, the garden can fully utilise the mountain mist, which has a great effect on the pollen of the plants. It gives Darjeeling tea the aroma it is famous for.

Gurung explained that it is also important for Darjeeling town that Happy Valley Tea Estate does not close down. "During the GNLF movement, Happy Valley was one of the centres of the agitation. If the garden shuts down once, it will be impossible to reopen it, and hunger and desperation will make the 2,500 people here head for Darjeeling town. And one cannot be certain that a severe law and order crisis will not follow."

The workers of Happy Valley welcomed the Darjeeling carnival for whatever little cheer it brought to their lives. They even organised a tour of the estate and a cultural programme on November 7. For the occasion, the Post-Master General of North Bengal and Sikkim released special first day covers on Happy Valley Tea Estate.

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