By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
For many weeks now, Nepal’s tea exports to India have been in the doldrums.
In spite of all the hype about a reset in Nepal-India relations, at the operational level it is business as usual.
At the highest state level everything may be hunky-dory, but for the common man and business people it is indeed hell interacting with their opposite numbers.
What Nepal is experiencing today with tea exports, it has done so with other products like cardamom.
The plain fact is that Ilam tea is slowly edging out Darjeeling tea in the international market.
The Tea Board of India is devising all sorts of ways and means to stop this trend.
And if Nepali tea production and exports suffer, so be it.
It has been reported that over 200,000 kilograms of green tea leaves that are ready to harvest have not done so.
India’s Tea Board suddenly introduced new testing and import regulations.
Nepal’s tea entrepreneurs did submit more than 200,000 kilograms of processed tea for testing. But after more than a month this tea is rotting in Indian warehouses and cannot be moved.
The Indian authorities are dilly-dallying and refuse to release any laboratory test report.
To add insult to injury, the Nepalese tea entrepreneurs have to pay warehouse rent for the stored tea.
If the Indian side finds the tea to be unsuitable, it will be destroyed then and there.
It cannot even be brought back to Nepal, as the tea entrepreneurs would have to pay 40 percent customs duty!
This is an intolerable state of affairs. Is this the Indian way of doing business?
The present Nepalese government is taking things too lightly. It is supposed to be working on the issue, but it is taking far too long.
It seems to be unaware of the tea already harvested and the tea factories that have remained closed for weeks. This is not a matter of choice in the peak season.
Farmers, workers and tea entrepreneurs have all been badly affected.
If the government wants to retain a shred of responsibility and accountability, it should immediately inform the Nepalese people about the state of ongoing discussions with India.
Ruling Party: We hear your bells. Do you hear ours ringing incessantly?
The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com
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