By Manoj Kumar Ojha
Climate change and rising petroleum prices are jointly worsening the lives of tea workers in Assam, as the cost of traditional bamboo baskets — an essential tool for tea plucking — continues to rise sharply across the tea belt of Upper Assam.
Frequent storms accompanied by heavy rainfall in recent years have uprooted thousands of bamboo orchards across the state, severely affecting the availability of quality bamboo used for making tea baskets. Basket makers in Tinsukia district said they are now forced to procure bamboo from faraway places and neighbouring states, where transportation costs have increased due to rising petrol and diesel prices.
“We never saw bamboo becoming this costly before. Transport charges are now very high,” said a basket maker at Doomdooma. Another artisan remarked, “We may not know the term climate change, but we can clearly see bamboo sources disappearing after storms.”
The small bamboo baskets carried on the back by tea workers during plucking now cost around Rs 200, while the larger baskets used for storing tea leaves cost nearly Rs 300. Basket makers stated that prices may rise further once existing bamboo stocks are exhausted.
Tea workers expressed deep concern over the growing burden, saying their daily wages are too low to cope with rising prices of essential commodities and work equipment. “Without the basket, we cannot work. But buying a new one has become difficult,” said a woman tea worker. Another worker added, “A basket hardly lasts six months. We are forced to spend again and again.”
Workers said bamboo baskets have no practical alternative, as they help keep tea leaves fresh for hours during plucking operations. While the government claims to be monitoring prices, workers and artisans question how ordinary labourers will survive when climate-related damage and fuel price hikes continue pushing up transportation and production costs.