When it comes to tea, there is hardly any variety that is better than the one grown in Darjeeling. However, recently, it seems that the tea industry in Darjeeling has been facing certain tough situations. Not only the unfavourable weather conditions have been yielding poor-quality crops, but also cheap tea sold as Darjeeling tea has flooded the market. Now, to make matters worse, an old heritage bungalow on the Goomtee Tea Estate in Darjeeling was ravaged by fire.
Goomtee Tea Estate In Darjeeling Ravaged By Fire
Today a fire gutted the old heritage bungalow of Goomtee Tea Estate in Darjeeling which is heart breaking.Darjeeling tea industry is really going through troubled times. Low yield, unfavourable weather conditions,influx of cheap teas posing as Darjeeling have crippled d industry pic.twitter.com/ue0eAIr8Y4
— Joydeep Phukan (@joyphukan) March 22, 2023
In a shocking incident, the bungalow at the Goomtee Tea estate was blazed in a fire. The tea estate is located in the district of Kurseong. The tragic event took place on the morning of the 22nd of March, Wednesday.
According to the Millenium Post, the fire was brought under control by the officials of the Kurseong and Matigara districts. According to the workers of the tea estate, they were alerted about the fire around 10:35 AM.
Some of the workers also went on to say that the initial attempts at dousing the fire were unsuccessful. Only when large fire trucks arrived, the fire was put out. A video posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter shows the horrifying fire and the damage it wreaked.
The video was posted by the secretary and principal officer of the Tea Research Association (TRA), Tocklai.
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Loss Of At Least ₹4 Crores
According to the Millenium Post reported, the fire caused damage of a total of ₹4 to 5 crores. The fire, it seems, was pretty bad since it took almost three hours to put out. The tea estate is more than 100 years old.
It was established in 1899 by a British coloniser by the name of Henry Lennox. After the second world war, however, the tea estate was sold to the Royal Family of Ranas of Nepal. Now, though, the tea estate is officially under the Mahanadi Tea company. The tea estate is a total of 225 hectares.
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Cover Image Credits: @joyphukan/Twitter