Tukvar Valley is a valley in the Darjeeling Pulbazar 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 ...

. Tukvar Tea Garden in Tukvar Valley is composed mainly of many divisions, 1st Division, 2nd Division (Limbu Busty), 3rd Division-Lepcha Busty, 4th Division and Puttabong. The valley as a whole comprises Singamari, Puttabong, Soom T.E, Tukvar Tea Estate, Singla Tea Estate. The Darjeeling-Jorethang road is the prime route of this valley, which connects Darjeeling with Sikkim. In early days it was used by the traders from Sikkim to reach Darjeeling's Gundri Bazar. The very famous Conveyor

ropeway Ropeway may refer to: Cable transport * Cableway, or cable transport, a broad class of transport modes that have cables * Aerial lift, a means of cable transport in which cabins, cars, gondolas, or open chairs are hauled above the ground by mea ...

is also lies in this place, which once were called the Asia's longest ropeway.

Geography

Location

Tukvar Tea Garden is located at .

Area overview

The map alongside shows the northern portion of the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region.

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

, which rises with an elevation of is located further north of the area shown.

Sandakphu Sandakphu or Sandakpur at is a mountain peak in the Singalila Ridge on the border between India and Nepal. It is the highest point of the ridge and of the state of West Bengal, India. The peak is located at the edge of the Singalila Nation ...

, rising to a height of , on the Singalila Ridge, is the highest point in West Bengal. In

61% of the total population lives in the rural areas and 39% of the population lives in the urban areas. There are 78 tea gardens/ estates (the figure varies slightly according to different sources), 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 ...

in the district. 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.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Tukvar Tea Garden had a total population of 4,791 of which 2,339 (49%) were male and 2,452 (51%) were female. There were 397 persons in the age range of zero to six years. The number of literate people in Tukvar Tea Garden was 3,529 (73.66% of the population over six years).

Tea estates

The management of Tukvar Tea Estate had issued an order for "suspension of work" after some workers had allegedly tried to beat up a manager. As of 2016, it remained closed. North Tukvar Tea Estate is one of the oldest tea gardens in Darjeeling. It started commercial production in 1856. Puttabong Tea Estate was formerly known as Tukvar Tea Estate. Vah Tukvar, an old and historical tea garden, fell on bad days and effectively closed down around 1995, although no formal announcement about its closure was made. The Chamong group acquired the abandoned Vah Tukvar, renamed it Shree Dwarika, and reopened its gates in 2006.

Darjeeling Ropeway

Darjeeling Ropeway was started in 1968 from Singamari in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

. In 45 minutes, the ropeway transported passengers from a height of 7,000 ft down to 800 feet where the last station was located at Singla Bazar on the bank of the Rangeet. As of 2020, the ropeway runs only up to Tukvar.

References

{{Darjeeling District Villages in Darjeeling district