The tea gardens and factories of Jhapa and Ilam have been forced to close because of Maoist threats since 16 July, the middle of the picking season. While estate owners are worried about recouping their investment and paying back loans, thousands of tea pickers are without jobs and are struggling to survive. "I can neither open the factory nor keep it closed, it is peak season for the leaves," says Chandi Prajuli of Danfe Tea Processing in Bhadrapur.

There are 5,000 tea pickers and 35,000 labourers employed in the tea gardens of eastern Nepal. "What will we eat, how long will the strike go on?" asks Shyam Deb Urab at the Tokla garden. The head of the tea worker's union here, Dipak Tamang, says no one has made any moves to resolve the dispute. "When other industries are affected, the government acts immediately but not when the tea industry, that is propping up the economy, is hit," he says.

Banks and creditors have invested up to Rs 300 million in the tea industry and the country was exporting some Rs 70 million worth of tea into the international market and replacing imports by providing eight million tons of tea for the domestic market. (Tirtha Sigdel)