Sylhet Bureau :
There is extreme frustration among the stone, sand and barki workers due to the closure of the work place in the stone quarry area of Sylhet district for a long time. The workers go out for work in the quarry and Balu Mahal area every day with shovels, baskets, but they wait the whole day without getting any work, they are living an inhumane life.
Present picture of hundreds of thousands of workers in Jaflong, Bichnakandi, Bholaganj and Sreepur, the largest stone quarry in the country and in the Balu Mahal area. If the quarries and Balu Mahal are operational, 3-4 lakh workers of the country including Sylhet work and improve their living standards and strengthen the economic driving force of the country.
Not only the stone, sand and barki workers, but the businessmen are also in trouble. As stone extraction from quarries and Balu Mahal has been stopped for a long time, the businessmen related to stone have become unemployed. The crossing zone area of North Sylhet including Jaflong, Dhupagul, Bholaganj is going to be closed. As the extraction of stones from the quarries has stopped, all those Krasar areas have become empty of workers.
There is an extreme shortage of livelihood in the families of stone and sand workers in Goainghat, Jaintapur and Companyganj areas of Sylhet as they do not have access to other professions. The poor workers were spending their days with families in starvation.
Already, people from all walks of life have gathered and protested to demand the opening of all stone quarries in Sylhet. Besides, Jaflong business leaders, Bishnakandi business leaders, Bholaganj business leaders and Sreepur business leaders, workers from all over the place have held individual human bonding programs to demand stone quarry operation.
In various human bonding programs, the workers have attracted the attention of civilized society representatives including the political leaders of the country with the slogan ‘Bhat chai nala kaj chai’.
In this regard, Minhaj Uddin, a businessman in the Jaflong stone quarry area, said that due to the suspension of stone and sand lifting, there has been a humanitarian crisis among the workers in the quarry area. That is why the lamentation of unemployed people is observed.
