The ongoing strike by tea garden workers in Moulvibazar has caused an estimated loss of Tk161.92 crore, owners have claimed.
Workers, who are demanding a Tk300 wage, are on strike for the 11th consecutive day on Tuesday, defying the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union's decision.
Owners said in a total of 241 tea gardens some 6,47,400 raw leaves were ruined during this period, counting a loss of Tk31 crore.
Moulvibazar Uttarbhag and Indanagar tea garden Manager Md Lokman Chowdhury said workers collect over 35kg of raw tea leaves from the gardens, which later get refined in factories every day.
The raw leaves amount to a total of 8,000kg of dried tea, which is sold at Tk200 per kg by the factories, he added.
Chowdhury noted that each factory earns over Tk160,000 every day.
“Now, the owners are being deprived of that sum,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
Golam Mohammad Shibli, general manager of Finlay Tea Company and chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association in Sylhet reported that 241 tea farms lost Tk161.92 crore during the strike, and Finlay lost some Tk20 crore.
“However, we still don’t have the exact figures. The amount was calculated from data collected from various tea gardens of the country,” he added.
Among the total tea gardens in Bangladesh, Sylhet Valley has 23, Habiganj 24, and Moulvibazar 92.
Of these, 167 are the main gardens while the rest are known as 'outpost gardens.'
The number of workers in outpost gardens is comparatively small.
According to the Bangladesh Tea Board, the country produced a record 96.5 million kg of tea in 2021.
Meanwhile, the target for tea plantations in 2022 has been set at 9.70 million kg.
Tea garden workers in Moulvibazar resumed their strike on Tuesday afternoon.
Most of the workers in different upazilas joined work on Monday morning upon assurances from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on settling the issue.
However, a group of workers brought out a procession abstaining from work and demanding a raise in their daily wages to Tk300 from Tk120.
They said they were not informed of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s directive regarding wage hike on television.
Previously on August 9, the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union started a two-hour work abstention a day demanding a hike in daily wages.
Workers have demanded an increase in their wages to Tk300, citing a rise in inflation and a depreciation of the taka.
The workers of 241 tea gardens across Bangladesh later went on a full-scale strike on August 13, four days after the two-hour work abstention.