Tea house, Munnar, Kerala state, SW India
Some 35.000 Tamil workers from nearby Tamil Nadu state have been relocated on the tea plantations in the mountains near the city of Munnar. Workers come here with their families or establish a family here. They are provided with housing, baby care facilities, health care facilities in several colonies located a few kms from each other.
Each colony has a communal building serving as caffe/tea house, meeting hall etc.
One cup of black tea has a price of 5 rupees for locals (and 10 rupees, unofficial price, for tourists). One euro equaled 70 rupees at the time of my journey there.
Tea plantations are the property of a Tata Chai (70%) – Kerala state government (30%) joint venture.
The Govt here is run by the Communist Party. Seems like even the Commies are not anymore what they used to be.