West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhdeb Bhatacharjee has asked tea garden workers and planters to meet him on Thursday, to help end the strike across 300 tea gardens in north Bengal.

The announcement was made on Tuesday after the Chief Minister met the planters at government offices in Writers’ Building.

Over 300,000 disgruntled workers had gone on an indefinite strike from yesterday, crippling the production process.

They are demanding an immediate pay hike. Currently, they get Rs 45.90 daily according to a 1999 settlement.

The strikers have been joined by workers from another 1,500 tea gardens in the unorganized sector.

"There are two issues which are core to this problem. First the wage hike, and next, that the wage hike should be related to productivity…..we will have to find a solution keeping both these things in mind," Bhattacharjee said.

K.P. Dhanuka, who led the planters’ delegation today, said, "We have conveyed to him (the CM) our constraints and he was sympathetic. We hope the problem will be solved amicably on Thursday".