Soom Tea Garden was planted by J.Jerdin in 1860.Williamson Magor and Company owned the garden for a century. The Chamong Group took control of Soong Tea Garden, then in bad shape, in 2001.
The map alongside shows the northern portion of the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region. Kangchenjunga, which rises with an elevation of is located further north of the area shown.Sandakphu, rising to a height of, on the Singalila Ridge, is the highest point in West Bengal.In Darjeeling Sadar subdivision 61% of the total population lives in the rural areas and 39% of the population lives in the urban areas.There are 78 tea gardens/ estates, producing and largely exporting Darjeeling tea in the district. It engages a large proportion of the population directly/ indirectly.Some tea gardens were identified in the 2011 census as census towns or villages. Such places are marked in the map as CT or R. Specific tea estate pages are marked TE. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.
Demographics
According to the 2011 Census of India, Soom Tea Garden had a total population of 3,578 of which 1,757 were males and 1,821 were females. There were 290 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Soom Tea Garden was 2,458. Most of the residents are either Nepalese, like the Chettri, Brahman, Mukhia or from the Tibetan Buddhist tribes like the Rai, Limboo, Lepcha and Tamang.
Economy
from this garden mostly from Chinary cultivar and almost the entire production is exported to Europe.Soom Tea Garden is in the process of becoming fully bio-organic. It employs 692 permanent workers. The Chamong Group provides 500 houses. Many amongst the others are indirectly dependent on the tea garden.
Chamong Group
The Chamong Group is the largest producer of organic Darjeeling tea and Assam tea. It produces 3,000 tonnes annually and employs 10,000 persons. It owns 4 tea estates in Assam and 13 in Darjeeling. The tea estates in Darjeeling are: Pussimbing, Chamong, Tumsong, Lingia, Nagri Farm, Bannockburn, Dhajea, Shree Dwarika, Ging, Soom, Phoobsering, Tukdah and Marybong. It exports tea to the US, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.
