About 340 workers in horticulture farms and Government Botanical Gardens in the Nilgiris district today abstained from work, protesting against the abnormal delay in disbursement of last month’s salary.

The workers, including 200 women, squatted in front of the offices of 16 horticulture farms at various places and also the Botanical Garden here, without attending to the works like cleaning and weeding, police said.

According to some workers, there was a delay in the payment of salary the last few months. The workers, who had waited for patiently for many months, now demanded the payment in view of Deepavali.

On learning about the strike, officials managed to disburse the salary around 12.30 p.m. Workers protested for nearly three hours, which affected the tourist movement in the gardens, Police said.

The workers alleged that this was the normal routine, as they received their salary only on 20th of every month, instead of last day working day or the first week of the month.

Department officials were not available for comment.