North Bengal Devastation Still Being Assessed

“It will take at least seven to ten days to assess the full impact…The roads haven’t been repaired so Garden Managers still are unable to reach their gardens.” – Indranil Ghosh, COO of the Chamong Group (Tea producers and exporters)

<CALCUTTA>

By SB Veda

Darjeeling is known both as The Queen of Hills for its beauty and as the land of the thunderbolt for intermittent lightening preceding loud thunderclaps. Also acclaimed for producing the best teas in the world, the verdant hills faced the most severe storm in the memories of most of its residents – as did the rest of North Bengal to varying degrees. Only the flooding from a storm in Sikkim in 1968 compares.

Though weather warnings were in effect, nobody but the God of the thunderbolt himself could have predicted the intensity of the cloudburst that released the outburst from the heavens so intense, it swept away houses, crumbled roads, tore out tea bushes, and loosened soil and rock in hundreds of landslides in the hills. It caused causing rivers to overflow in both the hills and the plains flooding of tea bushes in the rest of North Bengal, notably the lush Dooars tea region adjacent its more prestigious high-altitude cousin.

The impact was felt as far as Calcutta (Kolkata) which was flooded days later.

Between October 4th and 5th, in some places as much as 11 inches of rain came down, in a single day. Not since 1968 has so much rain fallen in so little time.

Volumes aside, it was the severity of the storm that was almost unprecedented. Like sheets of glass breaking on the lush waves of tea bushes that wind around the slopes of the Eastern foothills of the Himalayas, the sheer force of the falling water left scars on the region.

By yesterday, the death toll had risen to forty-two as landslides estimated at four hundred in number swept away homes, bed and breakfast establishments called Homestays, and countless tea bushes, clinging perilously on steep inclines in soil that has become increasingly eroded over the years, were wrenched by the downpour, leaving muddy scars on the landscape.

MIRIK TOWN MOST SEVERELY HIT

Worst affected in the hills was the small tourist town of Mirik located in Western Darjeeling district and known for its high altitude lake where tourists gather and stay. It is surrounded by large tea estates producing some of the world’s finest teas like Thurbo, Okayti, and Gopaldhara. Indeed, the entire Mirik Sub-division, Sukhia Pokhri (Darjeeling), Lava and Pedong blocks (Kalimpong), and Bamandanga–Tudu (Jalpaiguri) were severely impacted.

Landslide at Mirik’s Okayti Tea Estate near India’s border with Nepal in Darjeeling District , Photo courtesy of Rajeev Baid, estate owner and MD of  Aman Tea Group

“As far as we can tell,” says Rishi Saria, co-owner of Gopaldhara and Rohini estates, “we lost around a hectare of bush in Gopaldhara.” He added: “We also lost significant young growth (bushes planted only recently as part of Gopaldhara’s replanting strategy to replenish the aging plants on the tea estate) which represented our future.”

Saria said that as bad as the situation was on his highest parts of Gopaldhara, due to falling brush and tea bushes slamming into other bushes, the lower elevations bore the brunt of the storm. “Not only did they absorb the rain that had fallen but also the water also had nowhere to drain but downstream.”

“Although some people living in the village on the estate have lost lives, we have not lost any of our employees in the disaster,” says Saria.

At around 1 PM on the 5th, an evacuation order was issued by the state and within an hour, the banks of the Rangbhang River in Mirik were overrun. Many homestays were swept away.

The new CEO of the Goodricke Group, one of India’s largest tea producers, which owns five gardens in the district including three of Darjeeling’s most prestige gardens. Saibal Dutt faced the storm as his first challenge as freshman managing director. “Mirik is still cut off,” he says. He estimated the loss in Thurbo, which is located at Mirik to be in excess of five hectares. “But all of our gardens have sustained some damage.”

In the Dooars region located in the plains, adjacent Darjeeling, Goodricke’s Lakhipara Garden, which sits at the lush foot of the misty hills of Bhutan, was badly flooded with around fifty hectares left underwater as the storm reached its zenith for around 2-3 hours while the water drained.

Factories too were affected in Dooars. “Walls collapsed in three factories; culverts were swept away,” says Dutt, adding, “Because of the quick action of management, they were able to stop the water from entering the sorting room, which would have caused further damage.”

Ashok Lohia, Chairman of the Chamong Group, Darjeeling’s largest organic tea producer with 13 gardens in the district under their umbrella said that he felt maybe 50% of the region sustained at least some damage. As of Sunday, his Chief Operating Officer, Indranil Ghsosh said that he knew of seven workers who had lost their lives on their tea estates.

“It will take at least seven to ten days to assess the full impact,” he told this writer on Sunday. “The roads haven’t been repaired so Garden Managers still are unable to reach their gardens.” Many managers had been away when the storm struck due to the annual Durga Puja Holiday.

“The minimum damage,” says Mr. Ghosh, “was in Lingia [Tea Estate] where we lost 15 hectares of tea bushes,” adding: “workers have lost lives in Soom, Pussimbing, and Marybong – one each; unfortunately in Nagri Farm [Estate] we lost three people.” Mr. Ghosh said the western part of Darjeeling was most severely affected.

Five Bridges collapsed including the iron Dudhia Bridge that provides passage over the Balasun River, which runs by certain Darjeeling tea estates, notably Jayshree Tea’s Balasun Tea Estate. Rohini Road, linking Darjeeling to the plains, caved in.

Vehicles caught in the flood’s torrent

Indeed, Sumit Dalan , CMO of Jayshree Tea & Industries Ltd., which owns seven gardens in Darjeeling contends that at least one crane was lost due to an unstable ledge. “So, the ground needs to firm up,” he says.

Overall, at least thirty gardens have reported severe loss of tea bushes, and while hundreds of villages huddled in shelters, a total of 6,500 families were displaced according to reliefweb translating into around eleven to twelve thousand people who are sheltering in three camps.

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON…

Despite the extent of devastation, displacement, and loss of life, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee decided to go ahead with the Durga Puja carnival, a garish spectacle featuring drummers, dancers, and sycophants of the ruling TMC Party, skipping jubilantly by a clapping Banerjee, celebrating the immersion of the Durga idols to close the five-day Durga Puja festival.

When pressed on the matter by the media, Banerjee said she toured the affected areas the following day and blamed the Central Government for inaction. The tone-deaf nature of the Banerjee’s government was soon overshadowed by her Taliban-like reaction when it emerged that yet another young woman at a medical college was gangraped on October 10th. Instead of showing outrage at the crime, she said that at the private medical college where the horrific Aimee allegedly occurred, girls should be locked up at night. “At night time they [girls] should not be allowed to come out in the outside,” Banerjee told the press in her signature English syntax.

Meanwhile, North Bengal continues to be ignored by both the State government and the Central Government.

On Sunday, the Indian Tea Association held an emergency conference call and its secretary, Arijit Ghosh told this writer that it likely that some appeal would be made to the Central Government.

Privately, people in the tea industry are not hopeful for help as thus far, the Central government has done nothing to help Darjeeling. Moreover, the last time a massive relief package was approved, which was when Cyclone Amphan slammed into the Sunderbans, the funds were released to the State government, which allocated them without any paper trail. There were allegations of widespread corruption in the allocation of those funds, leaving those in need empty handed.

Tea bushes at Okayti Tea Estate torn out by the intensity of the cloudburst, photo courtesy of Rajeev Baid, Aman Tea Group

WHAT CAUSED THE CALAMITY?

Many have attributed climate change to the cause. While the climate crisis is surely a compelling element, Mr. Ghosh says it’s not the only cause:
• Unregulated construction has loosened the soil, weakening the ground;
• Planting of pine trees by the state Forestry Department for purposes of increasing the scenic views, which prevents undergrowth has caused loosening of the soil, increasing the likelihood of landslides during storms; and
• Dams and Hydroelectric projects in the neighbouring state of Sikkim have caused an increase in water flow in downstream causing flooding of rivers in Darjeeling and other areas of Northern Bengal; and
• Malfunctioning of the Tala Hydropower Dam in neighbouring Bhutan, triggering overflow in the Dooars tea region with consequences as described above by Mr. Dutt.

THE WAY FORWARD
In the future, afforestation programs will be essential to restore vegetation cover. Moreover, land-use regulations, perennially flouted, must be rigorously enforced, and construction must incorporate sound hazard mapping, with those areas prone to landslides noted. Also, infrastructure design has to be modified to make resilience principles their foundation and National Highway 10 needs to be better protected. Enhancement of early warning systems would also help residents deal with dangerous weather systems.

Whether these measures will be taken is doubtful, for the West Bengal government has a short memory and has demonstrated a tendency to prioritize events over action.