Workers of at least three tea estates in the Dooars belt protested on Thursday expressing disgruntlement over payment of bonuses at lower rates and resorted to demonstrations and a road blockade.

According to the decision made at a bipartite talks among representatives of tea planters’ associations and tea trade unions, the 50-odd gardens facing acute financial crisis will pay the bonus at lower rates, starting from 8.33 per cent which is the minimum rate. The rates were finalised for each such tea estate.

The decision has irked the workers of Bamandanga-Tondu, a tea estate in the Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri. According to the bipartite talks, workers of Bamandanga-Tondu will get the bonus at 8.33 per cent rate.

On Thursday, as soon as the workers learned of the bonus disbursement, they halted work and resorted to protests. Led by the Bharatiya Tea Workers’ Union backed by the BJP, they confined the manager and some other staff from 8.30am to 10.30am.

The workers, sources said, have asserted that if they are not paid the bonus at 12 per cent, they will halt work for two hours every day and demonstrate in the garden.

While the workers in Bamandanga-Tondu protested, workers of Luksan, a tea estate located in the same block, staged a blockade on NH31 on Thursday afternoon, demanding a bonus at a higher rate than 16 per cent. They raised the blockade around 2pm, demanding a bonus at 20 per cent.