Name of the Tea Estate : Towkok Group of Tea Estates (Towkok / Manjushree / Mangalam T.Es.) Address : Towkok Group of Tea Estates P.O. Sonari - 785690 District: Sibsagar Assam. Location : Towkok Group of Tea Estates is located on the foothills of Nagaland on its South, Towkok river is the natural boundary in West, whereas North is Jabooka Tea Estate & Tingalibam Tea Estate and Ladiogarh Village is on the East. The Sub-Division Town by the name of Sonari is 7 K.M., District Head Quarter Sibsagar is 52 K.M. Sibsagar is a historical city, which was the capital of the Ahom Kingdom. The city has a very historical Shiv Temple constructed by the Ahom Kings along with other historical monuments like the Rang Ghar (Entertainment place of the Ahom Kings), Karang Ghar (Kings Palace) & Talatal Ghar (Ahom Kings Assembly place). Airports & other big Cities like Jorhat & Dibrugarh are around 100 K.M. from the Garden. Year of Acquisition : The Garden was purchased from The Assam Co. Ltd. in the year 1955. Features : The Garden is situated in the foothills of Nagaland and surrounded by Government reserve forest and has variety of wild life, when taken-over, roaming freely and at times creating endanger to human life. At the time of takeover, out of a total grant area of 3132.20 hectare only 500.24 hectare was under tea leaving a sizeable area under dense forest for future expansion. With the fast rate extension and replantation, the property went on increasing in size and shape day by day and warranted decentralization and creation of different estates in the year 1970, which are Towkok Tea Estate (845.66 Hectares), Manjushree Tea Estate (403.38 Hectares), Mangalam Tea Estate (117.99 Hectares). Area under cultivation of tea : In the year 1970 Towkok Tea Estate became Towkok Group of Tea Estates – 1367.03 Hectares, which further comprises of – Towkok Tea Estate (845.66 hect.) : It comprises of Towkok, Laloty, Old Line and Namtola Divisions having total area under Tea 845.66 Hect. Manjushree Tea Estate (403.38 hect.) : It comprises of Lakamjan, Manjushree & Ladoigarh Divisions having total area under Tea 403.38 hect. Mangalam Tea Estate (117.99 hect.) : It comprises of Mangalam Division having total area under Tea 117.99 hect. Area under irrigation : Nil Gross yield : The Gross yield of Towkok Tea Estate for the year 2009-10 was 1979 per hectare, Manjushree Tea Estate 2697 per hectare and of Mangalam Tea Estate it was 1716 per hectare. Production Capacity : 1500000 kgs. Welfare Activities : Towkok Group of Tea Estates is well known in Charideo Sub-Division area for its various welfare activities for the local public. The Group has to its credit the construction of Public Auditorium at Sonari in the year 2007, which provides a perfect platform for Cultural development and Social get-together etc. The Group is playing a vital role in developing the system of women education in the locality by helping Girls School like PKB Girls Higher Secondary School, Sonari in all the fields. The Group has 3 nos. School Buses for dropping & picking the garden Children from school at Sonari. This Group also solved the acute problem of water supply and patient’s waiting room of the Sonari Town Hospital by providing the necessary equipments / construction. The Group has also built a beautiful Ram Mandir (Temple) at Towkok Tea Estate. Awards and Achievements : “Even the best can be improved”….Shri Arun Chaturvedi, General Manager (Towkok Group of Tea Estates) believes in this attitude and he has very ably instilled this spirit in his team of Officers, Staff and workers. Some of the noteworthy awards won by the Group are:- In the Field of Production :Manjushree Tea Estate has the honour of securing awards from the Tea Board for obtaining the highest yield per hectares in Sibsagar District consecutively for 3 yrs. From 1972, 1973 & 1974. In the area of Quality :This Group has always been occupying a seat in quality bench. The year 1975 was year of landmark as this Group bagged Tea Board Award for best quality tea (Area II). It also received the highly prestigious All India Special Award for best quality sold during 1975 excluding Area V. In the area of Health & Welfare :The Group has 2 nos. well maintained Hospitals, 25 beds capacity at Towkok Tea Estate & 38 beds capacity at Manjushree Tea Estate. In the year 2005, Manjushree hospital won the award for the best Well Maintained Hospital in Charideo Sub- Division. The Group also maintains 3 (Three) more Dispensaries at Old Line, Namtola & Laloty along with 2 nos. Ambulances. Certificates Awarded : In the year 2000, the Group achieved the ISO 9002 Certification, which only portrays that the Group operates a Quality Management System. The process for attaining the HACCP certification is under final procedure. Special features of Towkok Group of Tea Estates : 1) Mangalam Tea Estate (Close Planting) :Encouraged by the outstanding results achieved from the experiments, the company decided to open-up a new ideal plantation with the concept of close planting, in the title of Mangalam Tea Estate in the year 1973. Mangalam Tea Estate was opened up after uprooting some of the old tea sections of Towkok T.E. with new concept of close spacing of 21/2 x 11/2 x 11/2 x 11/2 x 11/2 with 100% clonal material of high quality potential. It is the only Garden of its kind in the tea world in respect of bush population. The entire garden of 117.99 hectare has been planted with a spacing of 18” x 18” x 18” x 18” with a plucking patch of 2’6” having a population of 42480 plants per hectares. The entire garden is very well planned from the working convenience of point of view. The entire plantation has been divided in 1 (one) acre plot having 8’ wide footpath on 3 sides and 20’ wide road along the plantation after every five such one acre plot, thus providing motorable road encircling each plot of 10 acres and making it convenient to supervise every acre plantation while moving in a vehicle. Mangalam is a very well established quality mark garden fetching very high prices in both Orthodox and CTC teas. The Orthodox produced is of high quality and is totally absorbed by German market at real attractive prices. The C.T.C. teas are also in good demand in Germany. 2) Manjushree Tea Estate :The Company realized the potential of the property and invested money in it to create a completely new ideal tea estate on virgin land after clearing the forests. Manjushree Tea Estate is the resultant garden situated at a distance of 4 K.M. from Towkok Tea Estate. The Garden is well planned in blocks with motorable roads all around. The work commenced in the year 1963. Manjushree factory is well known for its architectural beauty as well as picturesque view. Many well known Assamese movies have been shooted in this location. 3) Reintroduction of Orthodox :The Group carried out various experiments to find the ideal manufacturing techniques and evolved the plan of manufacturing 100% Orthodox during 1st Flush and to maintain maximum percentage of Orthodox in the later periods. Thus the group has to its credit reintroduction of the manufacture of large percentage of Orthodox in Upper Assam. Recent past technique of producing very tippy teas with high class liquor and strength of Germans requirement is being successfully introduced and maintained which is being sold regularly, year after year in German market at attractive prices. It is a special credit to this Group. Present Executives and their contact details : Shri Arun Chaturvedi, General Manager Mobile: 09435158412; Shri Diwakar Thapliyal, Senior Manager Mobile: 09435132727 Shri V.C. Rajpurohit, Manager Mobile: 09435700488 Shri R.R. Gupta, Commercial Manager Mobile: 09435727279 Shri Rakesh Chaturvedi, Chief Accountant Mobile: 09435158411 Md. Farook Azim Bora, Factory Manager Mobile: 09435727278 Shri Rajiv Singh Rai, Factory Manager Mobile: 09401081946 Shri M.K. Trived, Plantation Incharge Mobile: 09435578482 The name of the Garden is derived from Tai Language – the meaning of which is “Dancing Tortoise”. The significance of which is – that in those days Towkok river was full of dancing tortoises and also the first plantation of Towkok was done on the bank of Towkok river in Section No. N-2 in the year 1885, which is now uprooted and replanted during the year 1991-92 as Section No. 2 of Old Line Division with latest clones. Name of the Tea Estate : Towkok Group of Tea Estates (Towkok / Manjushree / Mangalam T.Es.) Address : Towkok Group of Tea Estates P.O. Sonari - 785690 District: Sibsagar Assam. Location : Towkok Group of Tea Estates is located on the foothills of Nagaland on its South, Towkok river is the natural boundary in West, whereas North is Jabooka Tea Estate & Tingalibam Tea Estate and Ladiogarh Village is on the East. The Sub-Division Town by the name of Sonari is 7 K.M., District Head Quarter Sibsagar is 52 K.M. Sibsagar is a historical city, which was the capital of the Ahom Kingdom. The city has a very historical Shiv Temple constructed by the Ahom Kings along with other historical monuments like the Rang Ghar (Entertainment place of the Ahom Kings), Karang Ghar (Kings Palace) & Talatal Ghar (Ahom Kings Assembly place). Airports & other big Cities like Jorhat & Dibrugarh are around 100 K.M. from the Garden. Year of Acquisition : The Garden was purchased from The Assam Co. Ltd. in the year 1955. Features : The Garden is situated in the foothills of Nagaland and surrounded by Government reserve forest and has variety of wild life, when taken-over, roaming freely and at times creating endanger to human life.