Sungma Tea Garden is spread over two villages - Sangmaru Tea Garden (Sungma) and Tarzun Tea Garden in the Jorebunglow Sukhiapokhri CD block in the

Darjeeling Sadar subdivision Darjeeling Sadar subdivision is a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Darjeeling district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Police stations Police stations i ...

of the Darjeeling district in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Etymology

In a Tibetan dialect, "Sanga-maru" means a place where mushrooms grow wildly and abundantly and "Taru-zum" means the place of a weekly village market.

History

Sungma Tea Garden was established by British tea planters between 1863 and 1868. Tarzum Tea Garden was also established in the 1860s. A devastating

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

in 1934 destroyed the tea factory at Sungma. Thereafter, the two gardens were merged and the entire manufacturing operations were shifted to Tarzun. The information available about ownership of the garden varies a little. Jay Shree Tea site says that Jay Shree Tea took over the gardens in 1993. Other sources say that the Jhunjhunwalas took over the gardens in the late 1950s. In the mid-1950s Jindals took over the gardens and Jay Shree Tea took over the gardens in 1993.

Geography

Location

Sungma Tea Garden is located at . Sungma Tea Garden is located in the Rong Bong valley, famous for growing exclusive quality tea. The garden is at an altitude ranging from . The tea cultivation area is , out of which is irrigated. The varieties of tea produced are:

Black tea Black tea (also literally translated as red tea from various East Asian languages) is a type of tea that is more tea processing, oxidized than oolong, yellow tea, yellow, white tea, white, and green tea, green teas. Black tea is generally st ...

Green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

Oolong Oolong or Wulong (, ; ; , "black dragon" tea) is a traditional semi-oxidized Chinese tea (''Camellia sinensis)'' produced through a process that includes withering the leaves under strong sun and allowing some Enzymatic oxidation, oxidation to ...

tea,

White tea White tea may refer to one of several styles of tea which generally feature young or minimally processed leaves of the ''Camellia sinensis'' plant. Currently there is no generally accepted definition of white tea and very little international ...

Tea flower Flowering tea or blooming tea () consists of a bundle of dried tea leaves wrapped around one or more dried flowers. These are made by binding tea leaves and flowers together into a bulb, then setting them to dry. When steeped, the bundle expan ...

, exclusive Darjeeling Clonal teas like Himalayan Mystique, Clonal Delight, Clonal Enigma and Clonal wonder. The climate is cool and misty with temperatures ranging from 3 °C in winter to 28 °C in summer. Annual rainfall is 2,500 to 3,000 mm, mostly during July to September. Sungma Tea Garden has a reserved forest with 3,000 pine trees.

Area overview

The map alongside shows a part of the southern portion of the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in the Darjeeling district. In the

61.00% of the total population lives in the rural areas and 39.00% of the population lives in the urban areas. In the

Mirik subdivision Mirik subdivision is a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. It was declared a subdivision on 30 March 2017. Subdivisions Darjeeling district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: ...

80.11% of the total population lives in the rural areas and 19.89% lives in the urban areas. There are 78 tea gardens/ estates (the figure varies slightly according to different sources), in the district, producing and largely exporting

Darjeeling tea Darjeeling tea is a tea made from ''Camellia sinensis var. sinensis'' that is grown and processed in Darjeeling district or Kalimpong district in West Bengal, India. Since 2004, the term ''Darjeeling tea'' has been a registered geographical in ...

. It engages a large proportion of the population directly/ indirectly. Some tea gardens were identified in the 2011 census as

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

s 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.

Achievements

It has Organic certification for NPOP, NOP and JAS by IMO, Fair Trade certification, ISO 1901:2008 & HACCP awarded by TUV NORD.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Sagmaru Tea Garden (Sungma) had a total population of 2,229 of which 1,072 (48%) were males and 1,157 (52%) were females. There were 159 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Sagmaru Tea Garden (Sungma) was 1,851 (83.04% of the population over 6 years). According to the 2011 Census of India, Tarzun Tea Garden had a total population of 2,232 of which 1,098 (49%) were males and 1,134 (51%) were females. There were 170 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Tarzun Tea Garden was 1,774 (79.48% of the population over 6 years).

Economy

Established in 1945, Jay Shree Tea & Industries Ltd. is a part of the B.K.Birla Group. It owns 22 tea estates in India and East Africa. The tea estates of Jay Shree Tea in Darjeeling are: Puttabong, North Tukvar, Rishihat, Singbuli, Balasun and Sungma.

Welfare activities

Sungma Tea Garden has a football ground with a pavilion. There is Shiva Gouri temple.

References

{{Darjeeling District Villages in Darjeeling district