Over 100 tea gardens in the two districts out of total 161 in the country produce around 75 per cent of the total tea production. But production is being affected in at least 63 of the factories now, sources said.

Moulvibazar Polly Biddut Samity (PBS) and Habigonj Polly Biddut Samity (PBS) are supplying power to the tea gardens and factories here.

Tea industry sources at Sreemongal said, 39 tea factories in Moulvibazar faced 725 hours of load shedding and 21 factories in Habiganj suffered 1225 hours from March to May 10 this year.

The factory authorities are compelled to keep their factories closed from 6 pm to 11pm every day due to load shedding.

April to November is the peak season for tea production. So it is important to ensure uninterrupted power supply during this period, they said.

Sources at PBS offices at Srimongal and Shayestagonj said they are not getting the required power from the Power Development Board (PDB).

Moulvibazar PBS needs 21 MW daily, including 12 MW for tea gardens. But PDB now supplies only 7 MW. Habiganj PBS needs 23 MW, including seven MW for tea gardens but it gets only six MW.

Sources at some of the gardens said a USAID survey team during its visit to gardens Moulvibazar and Habiganj in 1996 suggested setting up of separate power substations for tea garden areas.

As per its suggestion, a proposal to establish a 10 MW power plant at Srimongal was submitted to the ministry. It is gathering dust, they claimed.

The gardens suffering for load shedding in Moulvibazar include Bharaura, Zerin, Balishira, Julekha, Denstone, Rajghat, Khejurichhera, Amrailchhera, Satgaon, Saif, Mirjapur, Jangalbari, Hamidia, Madhabpur, Kurma, Champaroy, Patrokhola, Dholai, Srigobindapur, Madan Mohanpur, Nurjahan, Fulbari, Alinagar, Shamsernagar, Chatlapur, Mirtinga and Hussainabad tea estates.

Those in Habiganj include Surma, Noyapara, Teliapara, Jagadishpur, Baikunthapur, Nalua, Rena, Duendi, Lalchand, Daragaon, Sribari, Parkul, Rasidpur, Modhupur, Brindabonpur and Imam tea estates.