Meeting on hill tea bonus

The meeting in progress in Siliguri. (Passang Yolmo)

TT, Siliguri, Sept. 21: Tea garden workers in the hills are likely to get a bonus of 19.75 per cent in two instalments, sources present in a meeting that continued well past midnight said.

The planters had initially said they would pay the bonus in four instalments but the suggestion was rejected by the trade union leaders who insisted on two.

Around midnight, it was decided that the workers would get the first instalment before the Pujas and the decision on the next would be taken in a meeting on October 14.

"The trade union leaders kept on insisting that the second part of the bonus be paid before Diwali, which is on October 19. The meeting stretched so long because a consensus on the second instalment could not be reached at for hours," said a source present at the meeting in Siliguri.

The bonus rate of 19.75 per cent is the same as the amount that would be paid to workers in the Dooars and Terai.

The meeting today, convened by state labour commissioner Javed Akhtar, had started around 2pm. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced a couple of days ago that the bonus of the hill tea garden workers would be settled at the meeting today.

"Tea workers in the hills have not received wages for the past three months because of the shutdown. They had been banking on the bonus largely to help them tide over the financial crisis to some extent," said a trade union leader.

There are 87 tea estates in the Darjeeling hills that employ around 55,000 permanent workers.