The Dooars tea belt on Friday night saw the management of yet another tea estate abandon the garden on without disbursing bonuses among workers.

With this, six tea gardens have closed down in the Dooars — four in Jalpaiguri and two in Alipurduar — in the past 72 hours over bonus distribution.

Workers in at least four other gardens have stopped work during the past couple of days over a difference of opinion with the management over the bonus rate.

On Friday night, the managerial staff of Chamurchi tea estate in Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri district left the garden.

On Saturday morning, as workers reached the factory, they found that the garden had been abandoned.

“The trade union leaders had initially proposed a bonus of 17 per cent to the management but later said workers are ready to accept 15 per cent. Even then, the management left the garden without notice,” said Mallika Rabidas, a tea worker.

On Friday, Sylee, Nya Sylee and Katalguri closed down in the district on the same issue.

As the news spread, a section of aggrieved workers and their families walked up to the SAARC Road, which connects Samtse of Bhutan, and raised a block around 8pm. The blockade halted traffic till a team from Banarhat police station reached the spot and persuaded workers to withdraw around 10.30am.

Md Sami, a Trinamul leader of Chamurchi, said that last year, the management had paid workers bonuses at 17 per cent. “For Saturday, the workers planned a meeting for an hour before joining their duties to demand a bonus of 17 per cent and duly informed the management of their plan. The management, however, took the drastic step and left the workers jobless ahead of the festivities,” he said.

There are 1,079 workers in the garden.

The back-to-back closure and abandonment of gardens have left over 7,000 tea workers jobless in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

Amitangshu Chakraborty, the principal adviser of the Indian Tea Planters’ Association, of which Chamurchi is a member, said no decision was made on the rate of bonus in the garden.

“Talks were on. The management got disgruntled as workers in writing said they would launch a movement during the talks,” said Chakraborty.

In Alipurduar, workers in four tea gardens are not joining their duties over a disagreement with the management on the bonus rate.

In Dalsingpara in Kalchini block, the management declared 8.33 per cent bonus. The workers, who felt it was too low, have not joined work in the past three days.

In Toosa, which is in the same block, the management is ready to pay 13.5 per cent bonus but workers want more. They, too, are abstaining from work. A similar situation has cropped up in Demdima of Madarihat block where the management offered a bonus of 11.5 per cent but there are no takers among workers.

On Saturday, workers of the Dima tea estate, also in Kalchini, left work. The management had initially agreed to pay a bonus at 19 per cent during bipartite talks held in Calcutta, but reduced it to 14 per cent after coming back to the garden, workers said.

“We are convening meetings to resolve issues. Our officers are putting all efforts to ensure the gardens reopen ahead of Puja and bonuses are disbursed among workers at mutually agreed rates,” said Subhagata Gupta, the deputy labour commissioner of Jalpaiguri.