Workers of three tea gardens in Sylhet on Sunday blocked the Sylhet Airport road demanding their wage arrears and allowances.
About 2,600 workers of Burjan, Kalagul, Chharagang tea gardens under Burjan Tea Company started to gather in the Malnichara area in the city since morning, leaders of the tea workers鈥� organisations said.
They blocked the Sylhet Airport road there at around noon to force the authorities to meet their demands that also included taking steps to run the tea gardens under the government management after the cancellation of the agreement signed with the private-run company, they said.聽
Huge traffic congestion was created at both ends of the road as hundreds of vehicles were stranded following the road blockade.聽
The agitating tea garden workers alleged that they were passing their days with a serious hardship since their wages and food allowances remained suspended for more than 20 weeks.
鈥榃e can鈥檛 afford to provide our children with meals regularly,鈥� Saru Munda, a worker of the Kalagul Tea Garden, said.
A female worker, Champa Bauri of Burjan Tea Garden, told 抖阴精品 that they had been staging demonstrations demanding payment of their wage arrears and food allowances as well as to regularise their weekly wages for more than three months.
鈥楧espite making repeated promises of meeting our demands, the tea garden owners did not pay us our wages of a single week forcing us to take to the streets,鈥� she claimed.
At the protest, the workers placed their 11-point demand, including recognition of the tea garden workers鈥� ownership on the land they have been living generation after generation, the agitating tea workers said.
Then a team of the Sylhet Biman Bandar police and a patrol team of the army reached the spot at around 2:00pm and tried to persuade the workers to withdraw their blockade.
Later, the tea workers withdrew their blockade at around 3:00pm after the local administration assured them of meeting their demands.
Raju Goala, president of Sylhet Valley unit of Bangladesh Tea Worker Union, told 抖阴精品 that a 10-member team of the tea garden workers had met with the Sadar upazila nirbahi officer in the afternoon and submitted a memorandum with their demands.
鈥榃e have withdrawn our blockade after the UNO has assured us of meeting our demands,鈥� he said.
Contacted, UNO Khushnur Rubaiyat said that steps would be taken to pay the wage arrears and allowances of the workers through discussion with the garden owners.
