Tea workers on their way to a garden at Giddhapahar on Thursday. (AFP)

Darjeeling, June 19: The 70-odd tea gardens in the Darjeeling hills may be open during the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s indefinite shutdown, but workers are likely to go without their salary and ration this Saturday with banks remaining closed and Siliguri inaccessible.

Keeping in mind the 2.5 lakh people dependent on plantations (tea and cinchona), the Morcha had kept them outside the bandh’s purview from June 12.

There are 55,000 permanent workers in the tea estates while an additional 70,000 are recruited temporarily during the plucking seasons in February-April, June-July and October-November.

“The gardens follow two patterns of payment. While some pay on a weekly basis others give the salary every fortnight. This Saturday, the day for wage disbursement, the workers might not get their pay because banks in the hills are closed and we cannot go down to Siliguri,” said a member of the Darjeeling tea industry.

If the payments are deferred for long, it could create problems for workers who get daily wages of Rs 53.90 and have a hand to mouth existence.

While local shopkeepers have stocked up on their commodities, they might not be willing to give goods on credit as they are aware that a worker may not be paid for an indefinite period. “The backlog of credit will be huge and nobody will be willing to risk it. You cannot blame the shopkeepers either,” said a worker.

Many planters are also at a loss to find ways to distribute the ration. This too is done on a weekly or fortnightly basis. 'A worker is entitled to 2.3kg of wheat and 1kg of rice for six days of work. But I have not been able to pick the ration from the FCI depot in Siliguri. I could not even get it sanctioned from the food supplies department,” said a planter.

Asked about the plight of the garden workers, Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said: “We will see what can be done.” Party chief Bimal Gurung has already announced that there would be frequent relaxations in the indefinite bandh

Amar Lama, central committee member of the Morcha, said: “If the strike carries on for long, we will ask every household to contribute two handfuls of rice and dal and distribute it among the daily workers.”

He said “the issue (of Gorkhaland) is very sentimental” and many, he claimed, have stocked up food, going to the extent of borrowing money in exchange of gold from moneylenders.