Kochi: Each of the 10,000-odd employees of Kanan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) company in Munnar will get up to Rs 8,400 as ex gratia and bonus as a result of the revised package offered to them after a nine-day strike which ended on Sunday.
The package was agreed upon by the workers and the company representatives after the state government put its foot down in favour of the former.
KDHP sources said the company will have to bear an additional burden of close to Rs 5 crore to meet the new commitment.
“The total burden on the company to pay 8.33 per cent bonus and 11.67 per cent ex gratia will be approximately Rs 10 crore,” the sources said.
“The net profit for the last financial year was only Rs 5.02 crore. This commitment is likely to aggravate the bad financial conditions of the company, which is fighting adverse market conditions,” it said.
The company will have to look for other sources to make the payment before September 21 as was agreed in the talks.
That the work in the plantations has been hit for the last nine days will make it more difficult, they pointed out.
“The tea leaves which should have been plucked in these days have gone waste and it will take another 40 days for us to harvest the next crop,” they said.
Meanwhile, the jubilant workers celebrated their victory on Monday taking out processions and thanking the merchants community in the town as well as the police. They said they will resume work on Tuesday.
