Gandrapara Tea Estate and Lakhipara Tea Estate are

tea gardens Tea Gardens is a locality in the Mid-Coast Council local government area, located near the southern extremity of the Mid North Coast and the northern extremity of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. At the Tea Gardens had a popu ...

, located near each other in the Dhupguri

CD block In India, a Community development block (CD block) or simply Block is a sub-division of Tehsil, administratively earmarked for planning and development. The area is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO), supported by several technic ...

in the

Jalpaiguri Sadar subdivision Jalpaiguri Sadar subdivision is an administrative division of the Jalpaiguri district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Subdivisions Jalpaiguri district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative ...

of the

Jalpaiguri district Jalpaiguri district () is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was established in 1869 during British Raj. The headquarters of the district are in the city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the divisional headquarters of No ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. Both the tea estates are located in the north-central portion of the

Dooars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...

Geography

Location

Gandrapara Tea Estate is located at . Gandrapara Tea Estate is located the hilly northern part of the district close to the Bhutan border. Lakhipara Tea Estate is located at Lakhipara Tea Estate is located in the misty hills close to the Bhutan border.

Area overview

The map alongside shows the

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

floodplains A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

south of the outer foothills of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. The area is mostly flat, except for low hills in the northern portions. It is a primarily rural area with 62.01% of the population living in rural areas and a moderate 37.99% living in the urban areas. Tea gardens in the

and

Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...

regions produce 226 million kg or over a quarter of India's total tea crop. Some tea gardens were identified in the 2011 census as

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

s or villages. Such places are marked in the map as CT (census town) or R (rural/ urban centre). Specific tea estate pages are marked TE. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Etymology

Gandrapara Tea Estae got its name from an illustrious Machia tribesman, Gandra Machia. the name Lakhipara means ‘the abode of Goddess

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

’ in local languages.

The gardens

Gandrapara Tea Garden was established in 1894. Parnell, the first manager planted 258 acres in 1895. Duncan Brothers were the owners since inception. Goodricke took it over in 1978. Lakhipara Tea Estate produces CTC tea. It was established in 1912.

Goodricke

Established in 1977, Goodricke owns 18 tea estates in India, all inherited from sterling tea companies, who operated from the late 1800s. Goodricke has 12 gardens in the

. With its rich agro climate the area produces CTC tea. Goodricke’s tea gardens in the Dooars are: Danguajhar, Leesh River, Meenglas,

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, Aibheel, Chulsa, Chalouni, Jiti, Sankos, Gandrapara, Lakhipara and

Kumargram Kumargram is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Alipurduar subdivision of the Alipurduar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Kumargram is located at . The Kumargarm CD Block ...

. Eight sterling tea companies viz., The Assam-Doors Tea Co. Ltd., Hope Tea Co. Ltd., The Lebong Chulsa Tea Co. Ltd., The British Darjeeling Tea Co. Ltd., The Chulsa Tea Co. Ltd., The Leesh River Tea Co. Ltd., The Danguajhar Tea Co. Ltd., and The Meenglas Tea Co. Ltd., were amalgamated with Goodricke in 1977.

Events

Gandrapara Tea Estate is at times visited by herds of elephants, in spite of barbed wire fencing to prevent the animals from entering the garden. On the other hand Lakhipara Tea Garden faces problems with leopards straying in. Although, most of the better organised tea gardens go in for periodical wage revisions of the workers with the trade unions, there are people who protest against the daily wage, considered to be low by many people, prevalent in the tea gardens.

References

{{Jalpaiguri district Tea estates in West Bengal Jalpaiguri district