Meenglas Tea Estate and Leesh River Tea Estate are tea gardens, located near each other in the Mal CD block in the

Malbazar subdivision Malbazar 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 units Mal ...

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 fou ...

. Both the tea estates are located in the western end 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

Meenglas Tea Estate is located at . Meenglas Tea Estate is flanked by the Chel River on the west and Malnudy on the east. The Newra range of Gorubathan forest is on the north. Leesh River Tea Estate is located at Leesh River Tea Estate is surrounded by rivers on three sides - Geesh River on the east, Leesh River on the west and

Teesta River Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows throug ...

on the south.

Area overview

Gorumara National Park Gorumara National Park (Pron: ˌgɔ:rʊˈmɑ:rə; ''Gorumara Jatio Uddan'') is a National Park in northern West Bengal, India. Located in the Dooars region of the Himalayan foothills, it is a medium-sized park with grasslands and forests. Goruma ...

has overtaken traditionally popular

Jaldapara National Park Jaldapara National Park (Pron: ˌʤʌldəˈpɑ:rə) is a national park situated at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Alipurduar, Alipurduar District of northern West Bengal, India, and on the banks of the Torsa River. Jaldapara is si ...

in footfall and

Malbazar Malbazar, also known as Mal, is a town and a municipality in Jalpaiguri district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Malbazar subdivision. It lies about 65 km from Jalpaiguri and 55 km from Siliguri. It li ...

has emerged as one of the most important towns in the

. Malbazar subdivision is presented in the map alongside. It is a predominantly rural area with 88.62% of the population living in rural areas and 11.32% living in the urban areas. Tea gardens in the

and

Terai , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...

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 towns 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.

The gardens

At Meenglas Tea Estate the old garden was uprooted and replanted afresh. The old factory equipment was dismantled and a new processing unit was installed in 2007. It is one of the best modernized tea processing units in the region, HACCP certified since 2008. It produces high quality CTC tea. At Leesh River Tea Estate there are three divisions - Leesh, Hope and Patibari. In the Leesh Division, earlier named Phoolbarie, there are records that state that it had a planted area of 600 acres. It was among the first gardens to be planted in North Bengal. been The garden has recently been modified and has a HACCP-certified modern factory.

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

Tourism

Odlabari is an upcoming tourist attraction in the area. It offers some of the most spectacular sights in the Dooars region.

References

{{Jalpaiguri district Tea estates in West Bengal Jalpaiguri district