Tamil Nadu

Staff of tea factory rehabilitated

Udhagamandalam: Steps have been taken to rehabilitate the employees of a tea factory near here which was sealed after a raid conducted on Wednesday by a team of the Tea Board, headed by its Executive Director (South), R.D. Nazeem. During the raid, large-scale adulteration had been detected.

The ISO 9001 certified Beeyu Overseas Limited was the biggest of its kind in South India, Mr. Nazeem told The Hindu.

Among its work force were about 60 people from Darjeeling and Nepal. Stating that they will not be affected by the action taken against the factory, he said that henceforth they will work for the Woodbriar group at Valparai.

A unit of the company at Siliguri was raided on Thursday. Since some of the tea manufactured by the company was sold through auctions, its broker has been asked to stop the sales and samples have been taken for analysis.

To a question, Mr. Nazeem said that following the detection of the adulteration on an unprecedented scale, the Tea Board was contemplating the scaling up of its vigil.

It would consider subjecting all the teas leaving the country’s shores to analysis. Such a system was in vogue in Sri Lanka.

Regretting that when things were looking up vis a vis image of the Nilgiri tea, some manufacturers were resorting to such tactics to make a fast buck, he said that they will be treated mercilessly.

People of the district in general and various sections of the tea industry in particular have welcomed the action taken against the company.

The manner in which tea was being manufactured in the factory had made a mockery of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

R.B. Gopalakrishnan of the Nilgiris District Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers Association lauded Mr. Nazeem for exposing the black sheep.

Condemning the use of adulterants in the manufacture of tea, a tea industry veteran N. Sriram said that stringent action should be taken to put an end to the practice.

Because of the Quality Upgradation Programme (QUP) implemented by the Tea Board, many in the domestic and export markets now preferred the Nilgiri tea.

Thousands of small tea growers affected by the prolonged crisis in the tea industry are looking forward to better times.

Under the circumstances, no efforts should be spared in checking the activities of the unscrupulous elements, he said.

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