Some workers of the Totapara tea estate in Jalpaiguri district staged a blockade on a state highway in Banarhat on Wednesday, demanding their due wages be paid immediately.

The tea workers also forced the garden’s manager to sit with them in the agitation for hours that lasted from 3pm till over 7pm.

Sources said the workers wanted the management to disburse due wages for three fortnights ahead of Durga Puja. As the garden will remain closed from Thursday during the Puja days and the management had not paid the money, the workers resorted to protests and staged the blockade.

“The management was supposed to clear the payments before the Puja holidays. But as we were not paid till this afternoon, we were left with no other option but to launch an agitation,” said Preetilata Mahato, a woman worker who joined
the protests.

Located around 55km far from Jalpaiguri, Totapara has 750-odd workers.

On Wednesday, after finishing their regular duty, the workers reached the office of manager Ram Thakur around 2.30pm to demand wages. Thakur said that unless the management permitted, he couldn’t make payments.

This left the workers agitated. Around 3pm, the workers went to Banarhat More at the junction of NH17 and a state highway, and blocked the latter.

Some of them forced Thakur to sit in the protests.

“We want the management to clear our dues or we will continue our blockade and not let the manager go,” said worker Janaki Munda.

The workers asked the manager to call up the garden’s owner on their demands.

“The workers wanted me to join their agitation and talk to the owner. I did it and told them that the payment would be done on October 17,” Thakur said.

The workers, however, were not ready to accept this assurance and continued with their blockade, even despite a sudden bout of rain. Finally, Banarhat police persuaded them to lift the blockade at 7pm.