Prospective Tea Estate, now a no man's property
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, April 03 2013: If the visit to the mount of Kadamtala ended up with meeting the ghost of the abandoned Bamboo Chipping Plant, the journey to the lone Manipur Tea Estate at Morbung, which has become a no man's property today, was even more frightening.

On the third day of Hueiyen-Reach-Out trip to Jiribam sub-division of Imphal East district during Yaoshang holiday, the Team Hueiyen landed at Manipur Tea Estate at Morbung.

Plantation of tea and establishment of tea factory under the Manipur Plantation Crops Corporation Limited (MPCC) was started in 1981 in accordance to a decision of the then Government of Manipur.

MPCC is a state government undertaking under the supervision of Agriculture Department.

Since its inception upto June 30, 1997, the yield of green tea leaves from the tea estate was said to be approximately 200 matric tonne and the produces were sold to the Jirighat Tea Estate at Cachar, Assam at the rate of Rs.5 Kg.

Upto the end of June, 1997, MPCC had collected a total revenue of around Rs.10 lakhs and till 2000-01, a sum of Rs 1,68,26,195 have been earned from selling green tea leaves from the tea estate alone.

Prospective Tea Estate, now a no man's property

At one time, it may have been hailed as one of the most prospective income generating ventures of the Government of Manipur and the tea leaves produced was said to be of superior quality in comparison to others, but today, from prolonged negligence of the Government, the lone tea estate of the State which spreads over an area of 260 hectares out of the total targeted tea plantation area of 425 hectares, is hard to be distinguished from the surrounding rubber plantation and overgrown vegetation.

In fact, members of Team Hueiyen had a hard time in trying to locate the tea estate with all the tea plantation areas covered with reeds and the tea factory lying in ruins.

There is not even a signboard to indicate the visitors that Manipur Tea Estate once stood tall there.

With no one to look after, what is even more heartbreaking was the sight of encroachment on the land of the tea estate for rubber plantation, jhum cultivation and settlement by the neighbouring villagers.

The trees planted in between the tea plants for their protection and nourishment were seen being cut down for timber.

In short, the entire land of Manipur Tea Estate at Morbung has become a no man's land or property today.

Despite an earlier State Cabinet decision in favour of winding up MPCC, the State Government did pump in Rs 9 lakhs in an attempt to revive the tea estate and K Ranjit Singh, who was then the Agriculture Minister, personally went to Jiribam in May 2004 to install some new equipment for re-operation of the tea factory.

The help of Kolkata based M/S Vikram India Ltd, which was responsible for the construction of the tea factory initially too had been sought and the engineers of the firm brought to Jiribam to complete the unfinished portion of the factory for the revival of the tea estate.

But nothing has come out of it.

Interacting with Team Hueiyen, some of the former employees and staffs of the tea estate, who have been subsequently retrenched by the Government; blamed the State government for the fate that the Manipur Tea Estate has fallen into today.

In their opinion, if the Government had been sincerely enough, then there would have been no question of the tea estate dying today.

The tea estate was doing well, when the Government announced the decision of abolition as a 'sick' industrial unit.

Many Ministers, MLAs and Government officials have come for inspection, and some of them even spent the night at the two existing bungalows of the tea estate.

But after they left with full of promises, they did nothing for the development of the tea estate, they alleged, while questioning when the neighbouring tea estate at Jirighat can do roaring business with little help from the Government of Assam, why should the Manipur Tea Estate be failed if the State Government had at least some concerns? .

Truly, another question that comes to the mind of Team Hueiyen during the inspection visit was why the Manipur Tea Estate could not continue to run with profit as the tea factory itself is conveniently located within the estate where the basic raw material for running the factory is available like within the compound of a house? .

Interestingly, even though the authorities of the State Government may have shut down the tea estate and its factory for the last many years, green tea leaves plucked from the estate by the locals continue to feed some of the tea factories in Assam, thus providing a source of income to many people.