Eid brings no joy for Burjan Tea Garden workers in Sylhet

Around 2,500 tea workers at the privately owned Burjan Tea Garden Company in Sylhet are enduring severe hardship, as the company has failed to pay their salaries for over three months.

Additionally, special ration arrangements for the workers have also been halted for eight weeks, forcing them and their families to go hungry ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest festival for the Muslim community in the country.

Workers report that the company authorities have only indicated that they will eventually pay the overdue salaries, but it remains unclear when this will happen.

Recently, tea workers held a rally in Sylhet city, demanding payment of their overdue wages and rations, the repeal of the undemocratic Gazette-23, a daily wage of Tk500, and assurance of their land rights.

During the protest, Raju Goala, president of the Sylhet Valley and organizing secretary of the central committee of the Bangladesh Tea Workers’ Union, stated, “Burjan Company has not paid salaries for over three months. The company’s General Manager is absent from the garden. Workers have organized rallies and human chains for their dues and will escalate their movements if their demands are not met soon.”

Ranju Nayek, the panchayat president of Kalagul Tea Garden, mentioned, “Around 2,500 tea workers at the company are owed pay for 13 weeks, and we have not received rations for eight weeks. There is even a shortage of medicine in the company’s hospital. Workers are starving without food.”

“We are in serious trouble. The company officials claim they will pay us once they secure a loan from a bank, but I don’t understand when they will obtain that loan and when we will be paid. We haven’t even received the bonuses for last year’s and this year’s Phagua festival, which started on Friday.”

They have informed the Sylhet District Commissioner, but to no avail. One worker lamented, “I don’t know who else to approach for help.” He added, “Our salaries are not even paid before Eid. We continue working in the garden after convincing the workers and giving them hope.”