Unpaid Puja Bonuses Trigger Protests Across North Bengal Tea Gardens

MP, Oct 24, 2026, Alipurduar/Jalpaiguri/North Dinajpur : Discontent over unpaid Puja bonuses has spread across tea gardens in North Bengal, with several gardens failing to pay the 20 per cent bonus and some struggling to clear workers' daily wages. The crisis has triggered protests, road blockades and the arrest of several tea garden managers, raising concerns over the industry's financial health and workers' livelihoods.

Ahead of Durga Puja, the state Labour Department issued a directive for tea garden workers across the hills, Terai and Dooars to receive a 20 per cent bonus. However, the announcement, made without consultation with garden owners or trade unions, raised concerns amid the industry's prolonged financial distress.

At least 50 to 60 ailing gardens are yet to clear the 10 per cent bonus due for the previous year.

At Jay Birpara Tea Garden in Madarihat, workers rejected a 9 per cent bonus offer citing financial difficulties and boycotted the payment.

On October 16, the police arrested the managers of Garganda, Dhumchipara, Huntapara, Birpara and Tulshipara tea gardens on charges of cheating workers by failing to pay their bonuses.

Bidyut Gun, general secretary of the Alipurduar and Cooch Behar Mazdoor Union, criticised the government for failing to ensure implementation of its directive.

“Several managers have been arrested, but they are merely employees. It is the owners who should have been arrested,” he said, warning that some gardens were struggling to pay wages.

He urged the state and central governments to formulate a comprehensive revival plan.

The situation is equally concerning in Jalpaiguri, where Bagrakote, Bamandanga Tundu, Nageswari and Kilcott tea gardens have reportedly failed to pay any bonus. Several others have paid only 10 per cent.

“No tea garden worker's household has any reason to celebrate this Puja. Workers in many gardens have not even received their daily wages for the past one to two months,” said Ramlal Murmu, joint general secretary of the Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, Jalpaiguri.

He urged the government to provide immediate support rather than limit itself to issuing directives.

In North Dinajpur's Chopra, workers of Iron Tea Garden at Daspara staged a protest on Friday, demanding their pending 20 per cent bonus.

Worker Nazrul Islam warned of intensified agitation if payment was delayed further. Garden manager Jayanta Ghosh said the owner had assured workers that the bonus would be paid soon.

Alipurduar BJP MP Manoj Tigga, a senior leader of the BJP-affiliated tea workers' union, acknowledged that several gardens had failed to pay bonuses.

“We are fully aware of the situation in the tea gardens and are working towards a permanent solution. A list of ailing tea gardens has already been prepared, and the state government is considering them separately. We hope to resolve the problems facing the tea gardens within the next year,” Tigga said.