Siliguri, Aug. 31: The over four per cent hike in bonus has brought cheers to thousands of tea garden workers in the Terai and the Dooars.

The hike will be applicable to 165 estates in the Terai and the Dooars, having a workforce of about 1.75 lakh.

“After many years, the consensus on bonus was reached in the first round of the meeting. Given the prosperity of tea industry in the last financial year, we have mutually agreed to the new rates,” said U.B. Das, the principal adviser to the Indian Tea Planters’ Association. “We expect the workers to contribute to the improvement in the industry with better productivity and performance.”

The bipartite agreement between tea planters and trade union leaders was signed in Calcutta yesterday. While Grade A gardens will get 18 per cent of their basic salary as bonus, those in Grade D will get 13.25 per cent.

But in all four grades, the hike has been by four to five per cent, which is more than double the usual rate of increase of 1.5 to 2 per cent.

“The tea industry has always shared its profits with the workers and this time, things being on our side, we have agreed to the higher rates,” said Prabir Bhattacharjee, the secretary of the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association.

“Workers must keep in mind this initiative by the planters and put in their best efforts to see the industry flourish,” Bhattacharjee added.

Trade union leaders, too, have expressed their satisfaction over the hike.

“In the past seven-eight years, the rise in the bonus was minimal, unlike this year. This time, we have succeeded in persuading the planters to pay bonus at higher rates, citing the improvement in financial conditions of the industry,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, the apex body of the unions that includes the Citu and the Intuc.

“Workers have welcomed the decision as over the years they were accustomed to seeing minimal rise, that, too, after several rounds of bipartite talks,” Dey added.

According to the agreement, the gardens in the Terai and the Dooars which are divided into grades on the basis of production, workforce and plantation area, will disburse the bonus by September 12, industry sources said.

Although the bonus has been decided, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which claims to be representing the tribal population of the region, has demanded that the rate be made 20 per cent of the basic salary, irrespective of the grades.

“We are aware of the profits earned by the estates in the past financial year and we want the bonus to be paid at 20 per cent,” a Parishad leader said.

The bonus for garden workers in the Darjeeling hills is yet to be decided. The last round of talks over the issue, which was held last week, remained inconclusive. The date for the next round of negotiation has not yet been fixed.

However, sources in the industry said the Darjeeling Tea Association would be under pressure following the hike in the Terai and the Dooars. The gardens in the hills always pay at a higher rate compared to those in plains and foothills.