Gardens Must Ensure Personal Hygiene of Tea Pluckers: Indian Tea Association (ITA)

GUWAHATI: The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has asked the gardens owners in Assam to build toilets in the plucking areas for personal hygiene of women workers.

Rossell Tea’s Romai garden in Dibrugarh district has already constructed two toilets in the fields for women. Romai spreading over 312.77 hectares, produces 5.8 lakh kg of tea and 80 per cent of the pluckers are women.

“The first of its kind initiative of Romai garden, will help women working in the fields and will improve their personal hygiene. Awareness is being created among women workers to make the best use of this facility,” an official of Romai garden said.

An ITA official told The Sentinel that workers’ personal hygiene is very vital to produce quality tea. Maximum deployment of workers in any tea garden is in the field, he said. “It is, therefore, essential to have basic toilet facility in the fields. The workers have to walk long distances from their place of work to attend the call of nature. It is important to provide privacy to our women workers while at work,” the official said, adding that other gardens must follow Romai and construct toilets.

The ITA and Tea Board of India have already completed a campaign on sanitation and sanitary practices under the ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative in more than 400 estates from Sivasagar to the Barak Valley. The garden managements have fully participated in the campaign, aimed at promoting sanitation and use of toilets. “We hope that the initiative will help in construction and use of toilets and help tea gardens in Assam to achieve open defecation-free status by 2020-22,” the official said.

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