The tea industry analysts told The Financial Express that with profitability on the wane for most companies over the last one year, the repercussions of militant activities would lead to a further drain of resources.

Recent incidences of abduction and killings have centered around this industry and of late, deployment of security forces to this sector had been comparatively low. The tea industry has urged the Assam government to step up security measures, especially for the gardens.

According to the sources, the costs involved in countering insurgencies by deployment of the Assam Tea Plantation Security Force (ATPSF) is quite high and is practically prohibitive for the smaller gardens.

As far as deployment of central security forces areconcerned, a top government source said that that increased insurgency in Assam has led to a serious resource crunch in the state coffers with the union government's reimbursement of security-related expenditure falling far short of the actual expense borne by the state.

Moreover, the criteria to qualify for the security-related expenditure includes presence of armed outfits, banned organisations and states where the army has been called in to handle law and order situation.

This, sources said, had put a lot of pressure on the state government on beefing up security measures and increased vigil at various corners throughout the state.

Industry sources said that the lower Barak Valley or the Cachhar area as it is commonly known was not particularly deemed as a disturbed area. Almost 6 per cent of the total tea crop is produced from the 103 gardens situated here. The main problem for these gardens is that the margins between the sale price and cost of manufacture have been very thin, which restricts themfrom spending on recruiting special forces for plantations, said an industry observer.

Hence, the only option left for the industry is to ask for more security personnel for monitoring the area. Currently almost 108 gardens in upper Assam are covered by the ATPSF. The bulk of Indian tea is produced from this region.

Industry officials confided that the situation in Assam was volatile more so with thinning out of security forces in recent times. The deployment of ATPSF was again a long-drawn process and short-term security measures are absolutely necessary, said company sources.