The management of the Majherdabri tea estate, on the outskirts of Alipurduar town, disbursed bonuses to its permanent and temporary workers on Monday at 20 per cent rate as was advised by the state labour department last month.

“We have disbursed bonuses to all our permanent and temporary workers at Majherdabri according the state labour department advisory. We paid the bonus today (Monday, September 1), so that workers can use the money for the upcoming celebrations,” said Chinmoy Dhar, the general manager of Majherdabri.

The disbursement comes at a time when multiple tea planters’ associations have expressed concern over the state advisory, saying 20 per cent was more than what they could afford.

Usually, the bonus rate is fixed through bipartite talks among planters’ associations and tea trade unions, many planters said. A general advisory from the state on how much bonus to pay has left many tea companies “concerned”.

In such a time, the Majherdabri management transferring bonus at 20 per cent rate to the bank accounts of workers is being as unusual.

“What is more significant is that the garden has paid bonus even to its temporary workers. Usually, only permanent workers in tea estates get bonus,” said a planter.

According to Dhar, there are 810 permanent and 915 temporary workers in Majherdabri. On Monday, a sum of ₹1.95 crore was disbursed as bonus among them.

“We paid bonus to the temporary workers as well because they serve us throughout the year and they deserve it. On September 6, we will disburse the bonus of workers of the Torsha tea estate,” he said.

The Torsha tea estate, near Jaigon of Alipurdur, had been a sick garden. The company that owns Majherdabri took over the garden on June 20.

There are 610 permanent workers in the garden and almost 400 temporary workers. “Here, we will pay bonus for two years, that is, 2023 and 2024, as they did not get it earlier,” said Dhar.

Representatives of tea planters’ associations said Majherdabri tea estate was a financially sound garden and thus could make the payment.

“But many gardens have financial constraints. During bipartite talks, bonus rates of these gardens used to be decided on a case-by-case basis. This time, there is hardly any option as the state has issued the advisory. We are fearful that problems might crop up if gardens facing financial problems announce bonuses at rates lower than what is (20 percent) mentioned in the advisory,” said a representative of the Tea Association of India.