Jorhat, Dec. 31: The labourers of Borhat tea estate in Sivasagar district of Assam today staged a dharna in front of Borhat police station, demanding that the management lift the lockout of the garden immediately.

An indefinite lockout had been declared in the garden yesterday, following ransacking of the manager and doctor’s bungalows by labourers the day before in protest against the death of a woman worker on Wednesday. The garden, under Charaideo subdivision, is owned by Amalgamated Plantations Pvt Ltd.

Today, more than 200 labourers, under the banner of Chah Janajati Mahila Mahasabha, gathered in front of the police station and shouted slogans against the management and demanded that the garden be opened immediately. They also demanded that manager Pratul Bora and doctor B.K. Gogoi be removed from the garden and compensation be paid to the family of Raimati Majhi, the permanent worker who died allegedly because of the management’s negligence.

The labourers submitted a memorandum to the officer-in-charge of the police station.

Sources in the tea estate’s management said both the manager and the doctor had refused to return to the garden out of fear. “The doctor has offered to resign if forced to return to the tea estate,” a source in Amalgamated Plantations, formerly Tata Tea, said.

Charaideo subdivisional police officer Prakash Sonowal said investigations were on.

“The management and labourers have filed separate complaints. We have registered two cases,” he said.

A senior official of Sivasagar administration said the labour commissioner had been directed to hold negotiations with the garden’s management and convince them to lift the lockout.

The Assam Tea Tribes Students Association had yesterday set a 24-hour deadline to lift the lockout. It will end this evening. Its local unit president Sahadev Dhanowar said they would decide on their future course of action on Monday. “If the lockout is not lifted on Monday, we will launch a series of agitation,” he added.