Beyond the green: Smiles and struggles in Sreemangal’s tea gardens

Collected Photo

Known as the ‘land of tea’, Sreemangal in Moulvibazar wakes to the footsteps of tea workers moving through its rolling green gardens.

From early morning, women and men move from one tea bush to another, picking tender leaves and carrying them in baskets before depositing them into large sacks.

Their hands help produce the tea that eventually reaches tables across the country.

But behind Sreemangal’s postcard-perfect green lies a harder reality – long hours of work and a daily struggle to make ends meet.

Tea workers say rising prices of essential goods, along with the costs of food, healthcare and their children’s education, have made it increasingly difficult to manage their families on their current daily cash wage.

Tea workers have recently been demanding that their daily wage be raised to Tk500.

On August 6, the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union also called for wages to be fixed in line with the rising cost of living.