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Apparently, anything he plants, flourishes! As the

workers take their lunch break, Dharamdas is easily

recognizable among them by virtue of his luxuriant

beard. When asked if he has any particular reason for

keeping the beard, he states that he will shave it off if and

when his son becomes a graduate.

‘No Hunting’ signs have been put up in several places

within the estate to create awareness about the protection

and rehabilitation of animals that may stray into the

estate, such as the rather attractive fluorescent snake that

an Assistant Manager found draped around the

handlebar of his motorbike early one morning! Other

‘visitors’ of the reptile or feline family are humanely

captured by the authorities, taken back to the forest

across the river and released into their natural habitat.

Bird houses attached to trees all over the estate provide

shelter during inclement weather.

Baghjan is HACCP and Rainforest Alliance certified

and boasts clean and well maintained Lines. The

following Awards have been won by the estate for its

overall performance and the quality of its teas:

Best Performance (South Bank) – 2006-07

Best Performance (Circle) – 2011-12

Best Quality (Circle) – 2013-14

South Bank Best Outgrowers’ Leaf - Quality Citation

2013-14

The highest yield recorded in Baghjan T.E. so far was 31

quintals in 1985 when the present Superintendent,

Rajeev Mehrotra, was the ‘Poali Sahab’ (youngest

executive). Perhaps history will repeat itself ! If tea is

“liquid wisdom” we certainly wish Baghjan plenty of it!

The Team (L to R): A.P. Gomes, A.S. Bhandari, Dr R.K. Gogoi, R. Mehrotra (Superintendent), B. Gurung & A.C. Bora

08 January 2016

January 2016 09

~ Sakina Hussain

Phu Ben, Vietnam

urrounded by lush green hills and hillocks covered

with tea, Khanh Hoa Factory is located 10 km

away from the Head Office, between PhuTho and

Ha Hoa plantations.The history behind the name of the

factory is quite interesting. It was neither named after the

place, nor the owner who built it. Mr Dao Van Lieu, the

man who established Khanh Hoa, derived ‘Khanh’ from

the name of the village where he was born and ‘Hoa’ from

Ha Hoa district, where he started his career.

Born on 24 February 1942, Mr Dao Van Lieu was from

Khanh Cuong Village, Yen Khanh District, Ninh Binh

Province, Vietnam. His is an amazing story of how one is

bound to succeed if focused and determined. He left

home for PhuTho Province at the tender age of seventeen,

with an empty pocket but a heart full of dreams of setting

up his own business. He started work as a loader and after

a period of two years as a porter, Mr Lieu got a job as a

driver in Lo River Union Tea Estate. His hard work was

recognized and he was promoted to Deputy Head of the

Transport & Materials Department and finally went on

to become the Director of Ha Hoa Tea Company (a

member of Song Lo Federation of tea estates that later

became Ha Hoa factory). In time, Mr Lieu decided to

establish Khanh Hoa Tea Company, but was unable to

start a private business due to government regulations,

since he was still the Director of Ha Hoa Tea Company.

Finally, he succeeded in setting up the company in 1997

with his wife,Mrs Li Thi Huong, as the Director. Initially

they faced a lot of difficulties in building the factory and

organizing manpower, as the place belonged to the Co-

operative Society of Yen Ki Village and the public

KHANH HOA

FACTORY

Aerial View of Khanh Hoa Factory

Tree-lined Pathway

Sri Dharamdas Elizabeth

Lunch Break & (inset) Indigenous Footwear