Although the government has declared a ten-days general holiday to prevent the spread of Corona virus, the tea workers was not given any leave. For the last few days, the workers have been demanding the declaration of leave as they were at high risk of being affected by this virus. As they did not get any leave, 24 thousand tea workers declared a strike at Habiganj. Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) urges the tea garden owners to give them ration and paid leave considering the strike and overall situation on humanitarian ground.

According to news media reports, in the morning of 31 March 2020, 24 thousand permanent and part-time workers working in 23 tea gardens at Habiganj stopped working as they did not get any response from the authority regarding their leave. They expected that the authority would give them ration and paid leave. Earlier, on 30 March 2020 the workers of tea garden at Sylhet Valley went for a strike.

For a long time, the tea workers have been working at a very low salary and living an inhumane life. In the current situation, if they do not get their salaries and ration, they will fall into a more risky situation. ASK hopes that the tea garden authority will consider the issue and disburse the workers’ ration and salary accordingly.

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