Bishnu Rana

Medo, Apr 28: Since the detection of the state’s lone Covid-19 positive case here, the township has remained sealed with the tag ‘Containment Zone’, resulting in complete ban of individual and traffic movement except medical and essentials services.
“We have erected check gates at both sides of NH-13 entry points measuring 3.6 km in the township where our police teams are deployed 24x7 prohibiting movement after detection of the positive case,” SP Lohit DW Thongon informed.
Meanwhile, Medo being a tea hub of the district has seen a fall in its tea output. “With the first crop due for plucking in early April getting overgrown and unattended and the second one that begins in May, also if not harvested will overgrow, affecting the quality which means erosion of profit usually earned during spring season. The farmers totally dependent on tea growing and the labourers engaged have been equally affected,” Sanjay Ngadong, a farmer rued. 
When contacted, retired CE PHED said the tea estates of Wakro-Medo had already submitted memorandums to the State Chief Secretary for immediate relaxation of inter-district movement for tea growers to sell their bumper harvest. “We are going through the worst phase as our bumper harvest this season is being wasted. As the tea plants have overgrown we have to engage a huge labour force in skiffing (removal of overgrown tea leaves) and since there is no way of selling the produce, sustaining the workers of approximately 500 in number is increasingly getting difficult and it’s a headache for us to make payments to them. If the lockdown continues we are heading towards an impending financial crisis,” General Secretary of Wakro-Medo Tea Growers Association lamented. He further added that Medo doed not have a single tea factory and is directly dependent on the neighbouring districts and Assam to sell their produce.  

The story is similar for several farmers who own acres of tea plantations and some of the estate owners said that new leaves due for plucking were left untouched since March and overgrown leaves have to be pruned which is an extra workload. The worst hit among large estate holders are Sosai Manyu, Retired CE Lupalum Kri, Asora Ngadong, Sokio Dellang, Bajongso Kri and many more small and large tea growers and monthly transactions in tune of lakhs are badly affected.
“This is yet another misfortune as a result of the national lockdown. How long should we depend on government and if it continues, the worst losers will be the small growers who are solely dependent on their tea gardens,” one of the tea garden owners Arosa Ngadong said.
Coming to area coverage, over 600 acres of land in Lohit district are under tea cultivation in the Wakro-Medo area alone. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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