Operations on the Ambari tea estate, which is in the Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri district, came to a halt on Tuesday as the management issued a notice announcing the suspension of work and left the garden.

The sudden shutdown has left around 1,360 workers jobless.

The garden, which had closed down in June this year, reopened on September 15. However, a fresh dispute cropped up on December 1 over the issue of the working hours of the workers.

According to the workers, the agreement was to shift to half-day work from December 1, as the lean season (when fresh tea leaves stop coming in tea bushes) would commence soon.

They, however, alleged that the management suddenly informed them that they would have to continue full-day duty, which led to disagreements.

The management, on the other hand, claimed that some workers assaulted the manager and some other staff during the altercation.

A team from the Banarhat police station rescued them, and on December 2, the management filed formal complaints against the accused workers.

On the same day, the management issued the notice, mentioning suspension of work over “security issues”, and the managerial staff left the garden.

Suraj Bishwakarma, unit secretary of the Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union, trained guns at the management.

“The management is violating norms, imposing irregular workloads, and denying essential facilities to workers. Had management representatives behaved properly, the workers wouldn’t have reacted,” he said.

Responding to the allegations, Subhashish Mukhopadhyay, secretary of the Dooars Branch Indian Tea Association, said the garden had been functioning smoothly for the past few months.

“What happened since Monday evening is unacceptable. Some individuals, under political cover, are creating disorder in the garden. Such unprovoked disruptions have led to the decision. We want the administration to investigate the incidents seriously,” he said.

Officials of the state labour department have confirmed the closure of the garden.

“We have received the notice and are closely monitoring the situation in the tea garden. Necessary steps would be taken to facilitate the reopening of the garden,” said Shubhagata Gupta, the deputy labour commissioner of Jalpaiguri.