Erosion has washed away 35.48 hectares of tea plantation at Dighaltarang Tea Estate in Assam's Tinsukia district and now threatens the garden's factory, hospital and workers' quarters, the Assam Tribune reported.

The river is advancing through the Dangari channel of the Brahmaputra and has already taken thousands of tea bushes along with the lost land. The Purana Line, a residential section built with permanent housing on the estate's northern side, has already been swallowed by the river.

The estate, under the Doomdooma Revenue Circle, supports 1,474 families: 1,360 labourers, 56 sub-staff and 58 staff members. Its factory and hospital sit roughly 300 metres from the eroding riverbank.

Workers and leaders of two unions representing the estate's workforce, the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha and the Assam Chah Karmachari Sangha, said an embankment project completed the previous year at a cost of Rs 4 crore, using geobags, sand-filled sacks laid along the bank to slow erosion, along roughly 200 metres of riverfront, has failed to hold the water back. They alleged the work was substandard and that funds meant for the project were misappropriated, according to the Assam Tribune.

No estate management or government official was quoted responding to the erosion or the workers' allegations in the available reporting. With the river still advancing, the fate of the garden's factory, hospital, school and staff quarters was undetermined at the time of reporting.

Dighaltarang's tea is certified by the ground it grows on. Right now, that ground is going into the river.

Sources: The Assam Tribune, "Riverbank erosion hits Dighaltarang Tea Estate in Doomdooma, over 1,400 families at risk" (April 27, 2026); NewsArenaIndia, "Assam: Brahmaputra erosion puts 1,400 families at risk" (April 27, 2026).