Darjeeling, Oct. 6: A wildcat strike by five labourers forced the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway to cancel two of its trains today. The labourers were demanding immediate payment of bonus and salary.

However, the joyrides between Darjeeling and Ghoom remained unaffected as a diesel engine ran the trains instead of the steam ones.

The cancellation of the trains from Darjeeling to New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling to Kurseong was resented by travellers, many of whom had booked their tickets almost a fortnight back.

T.M. Veeriah, a scientist attached to the National Silkworm Seed Organisation, Bangalore, said: “For the past three days my holiday in Darjeeling was almost perfect. But the cancellation of the train has marred the journey.”

Trouble erupted today when the labourers refused to fill the steam locomotives with coal.

“We have stopped work today because we have not yet been paid our salaries for September and our annual bonus. How long can we survive in this condition?” said Kishore Rai, a contractual worker.

The labourers said they were paid Rs 2,500 as monthly salary. “We are also paid an annual bonus of about Rs 3,000 and a medical allowance of about Rs 100 per month. But we have not yet received the money,” said Rai.

The DHR appoints a contractor for the coal service. The contractor then engages labourers on contract to load coal into the steam locomotives from godowns. “We have been employed for the past 30-40 years without any major problems with the contractors. However, the present contractor who has been working for the past 10 months has not signed any agreement with us,” said Rai.

The contractor, M/S Chowdhury and Sons, could not be contacted.

S. Nath, director, DHR, who came here from Siliguri, said the labourers were negotiating with the contractors to find a solution. “However, we have made arrangements to run the Darjeeling-NJP service and also the joyrides tomorrow. The uncertainty is only with the Darjeeling- Kurseong train.”