Chilling winter, no warm hearts for tea workers
Ultra-poor tea workers in the district are shivering in the chilly winter as they are passing days in extreme misery without warm clothes. People living in the tea gardens are more vulnerable.
The minimum temperature recorded in Sreemangal was 8.8 degrees Celsius yesterday, said Anisur Rahman, observer of Sreemangal upazila met office.
Farmer Boloram Naidu, 63, of Fulcherra tea garden village in the upazila, said the cold wave has put many people in trouble this year.
Surjo Nayek, 76, said he is shivering in the cold at his tiny hut in Sonarupa Tea garden colony of Juri upazila as he has no warm clothes.
Surjo has been passing a miserable life as he is yet to get old age allowance or vulnerable group feeding (VGF) card or any other facilities from the government authorities.
“My wife is now 65. I am alone and helpless. Earlier I worked as a tea worker but now I am too weak. I get something to eat when people give or starve otherwise. I need a blanket in this winter. I also want a VGF card or old age allowance," said Surjo.
Gonesh Nayek, a tea worker of Sonarupa tea garden in Juri, said he lives in a tiny room with his five family members. He is yet to get any warm clothes since he got a blanket in 2017.
Like Surjo and Gonesh, many people are crying for warm clothes.
Sajal Kanti Baori, member of Pahchim Juri Union Parishad, said “I got 20 blankets last year but got only 10 this year.”
Pranesh Goala, Kalighat UP chairman in Sreemangal upazila, said poor people do not have the ability to purchase warm clothes. As they cannot go out for work due to the fog and biting cold, they have to pass days half-starved.
Bijoy Banerjee, Rajghat UP chairman in Sreemangal, said he received only 900 pieces of warm clothes and distributed those among the cold-hit people in his union.
“I need around 15,000 pieces of warm clothes for the affected people of my union as there are 20,000 voters. Of them, 95% are tea workers,” he said.
Makhon Lal Karmaker, central president of Cha Sramik Union, said around four lakh tea workers live in the 92 tea gardens in Moulvibazar. Most of them, who live under poverty lines, are the worst victims. They have been passing their nights in the bitter cold wave.
Contacted, Ashraf Ali, relief and rehabilitation officer of Relief and Rehabilitation Department in Moulvibazar, said they received only 37,000 pieces of warm clothes from the ministry concerned.
They have already distributed the warm clothes among the chairmen of 67 union parishads and five municipalities and sought 50,000 more blankets for the cold-hit poor people of the district, he said.
Ashraf has also requested solvent people to help the poor.
The district administration has distributed several hundred blankets, said Deputy Commissioner Tofail Islam.
A number of patients, especially children and elderly people, are coming to hospitals with cold-related diseases, said Dr Polash Kumar Roy, resident medical officer of Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital.
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