Three tea gardens in the Banarhat and Nagrakata blocks of Jalpaiguri will reopen on November 17. The decision was announced on Saturday during a tripartite meeting at the office of the additional labour commissioner in Siliguri.

These include the Redbank and Surendranagar tea estates in Banarhat and the Dharnipur tea estate in Nagrakata.

The decision, made just ahead of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Siliguri, has brought relief for the 2,000-odd workers of these three gardens.

On Monday, Mamata will virtually inaugurate a primary health centre in Redbank and 13 other tea estates from Uttar Kanya, the administrative headquarters of north Bengal, in Siliguri.

The gardens were closed before Durga Puja due to disputes between the workers and the management.

Following the state labour department’s 20 per cent bonus advisory, authorities announced they would pay it in instalments along with wages. Workers demanded that the entire amount be paid immediately. In Dharanipur, they resorted to protests, leading to its closure. Similar protests erupted at the other two estates.

Rittick Bhattacharya, who runs all three gardens, and representatives of different tea trade unions were present at the meeting.

“At the meeting, it has been decided that after the gardens reopen, the management will clear the overdue wages. A portion of the bonus, which is due, will also be disbursed,” said a source.

A source of a tea union stated that the move to reopenn the gardens was remarkable as tea plucking would be halted by the end of November because of winter.

“The government is consistently putting in efforts to reopen the closed tea gardens. It is a major development and we hope normal activities will resume in these three tea estates from next week,” said a senior Trinamool leader from Jalpaiguri.

“The health centre will also immensely help the workers and their families,” he added.