Mintu Deshwara

Workers of different tea estates in Sylhet, Habiganj, and Moulvibazar continued work abstention yesterday demanding Tk 300 daily wage.

Many tea plantation workers continued their protest yesterday, disregarding their union leaders’ agreement on the withdrawal of ongoing strike demanding pay hike.

Bunobhir union of Moulvibazar’s Sreemangal upazila has become a hub of illegal sand mining, posing threat to nearby farmlands and damaging the soil fertility in the area.

Demanding a pay hike, tea plantation workers in Sylhet, Habiganj and Moulvibazar blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway at least for two hours yesterday.

“Today, I protest so that I don’t die out of hunger. It’s a protest for our lives, our survival and our rights.”

The Department of Labour organised a tripartite meeting between owners of tea gardens and tea workers’ leaders yesterday. However, workers’ strike continued this morning as no agreement was reached regarding their demand for an increased minimum wage.

Due to the Dhaka-Sylhet railway and Srimangal-Bhanugach road running through the reserve forest of Lawachhara, many of the critically endangered species have died in accidents while crossing them.

Demanding a pay hike, tea garden workers across the country yesterday went on an indefinite work abstention.

Khanjar haor in Sylhet’s Moulvibazar is being polluted at an alarming rate due to waste discharged from Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Industrial Estate.

Tea garden workers across the country go on indefinite work abstention from today demanding wage hike.

Permanent tea worker Koliti Rabidas earns a daily wage of Tk 120. They are a family of five, and only two kilos of rice are available at Tk 100.

Indigenous leaders and researchers have questioned the accuracy of ethnic population data shown in the latest census report and said the actual figure would be much higher.

Due to various reasons including climate change, environmental disasters, habitat loss and food crisis, fishing cats often come in contact with humans and are caught near villages and settlements in Sylhet division.

Tea refiners in Moulvibazar, the largest tea producing district of Bangladesh, are worried about being able to achieve this year’s collective production target of 10 crore kilogrammes as the recent load-shedding has thrown a spanner in the works, according to market players.

Around 30 years ago, Jatri Rani Barman came to Sunamganj town from a village with her family. Even though they came to the city with new hope, Rani lost her father when she was just a teenager.

Noorjahan Begum and her three children have been living in a flood shelter for almost a month since their house on Hakaluki Haor in Moulvibazar district was battered by high tides.

Tea farmers in Moulvibazar might not get the expected yield this year as they are struggling to irrigate their plantations in the face of inadequate rainfall, which has also given rise to a red spider mite infestation that is eating away at the crops.

The construction of Rajapur bridge over the Manu river on the Kulaura-Prithimpasha-Hazipur-Sharifpur road in Moulvibazar was completed a year ago. But the connecting road is yet to be completed. Therefore, locals have installed a steep bamboo ladder on both sides of the bridge, risking their lives just to get across.

Disregarding a High Court directive and  environmental laws, illegal hill cutting continues unabated in Dinarpur of Habiganj due to lax monitoring of the authorities concerned.

Hills in Holichhara tea garden in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura are allegedly being cut to construct a road, without the approval of Department of Environment (DoE).