A first-of-its-kind run will be held in Jalinga, the country’s largest organic tea garden in Assam on November 18.
This is the first charity run in a tea estate. The three-day event, Jalinga Tea Run, will begin on November 16.
The run will have three categories, 5km, 10km and 21km, inside the tea estate located in Dwarbund area in Cachar district of South Assam, 34km from Silchar. There will be a run for children as well – 1km and 3km.
Ketan Patel, director at Jalinga tea estate said, “Jalinga is the only carbon-neutral certified tea estate in the world and the only one to earn carbon credits with no-emission cooking stoves that we gave all our 1,500 workers after signing up for carbon credit project with Atmosfair, a Germany company. We will get our first set of credits from early next year”.
“This is a charity event, aimed at empowering tea workers and their children. We are aiming at 200 participants for the first edition. I promise to give them the best weekend of their life. They will stay in tents on a tea hill inside the garden. We will also have 10 homestay options with workers, who will get money for it. I promise to collect a lot for my workers and their children,” he said.
“Forty tea buyers from all over the world, including the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Japan, Taiwan and Sri Lanka, have confirmed their participation. The garden will also organize a pop-up exhibition to showcase local handicrafts and organic produce,” he said, adding, “We now have six brands of tea in the UK, Finland, the US, Canada, Italy and Belgium who use the CO2 neutral logo on their packs free of cost when they buy our teas.”, reports The Telegraph
The tea estate is spread over 1,100 hectares, of which tea is planted in 600 hectares. It produces 8.5 lakh kg tea annually.