“The Jadukata River no longer has work for mining workers like me and my husband. As a result, we have piled debts that we can’t repay. In desperation, I sent my two daughters Majeda and Khaleda to find work in Dhaka but no one is hiring right now, so they came back. Now, I don’t know how I will feed my five children without any income.”
Arju Begum, a sand and stone miner, stood at the bank of Jadukata River in Sunamganj and stared out into the vast water in despair while she explained her predicament in today's Covid-19 pandemic.
The government stopped leasing out sandpits across the country including the Jadukata River for sand and stone lifting ever since the Covid-induced lockdown.
Although some women are making a living by extracting coal from the river, those involved in sand mining have been unemployed for six months. Without access to other jobs in the locality, these workers are in peril as no alternate arrangement has been made to date to ensure their survival.
Speaking to a group of small boat owners, this correspondent learned the halt in sand and stone mining has rendered workers unemployed in 30 villages under Tahirpur and Bishambharpur upazila.
Nuo Miah of Rajargaon village said a miner who could earn Tk500-600 daily lifting sand, is now unemployed and has no income.
Alamgir Hossain said more than 100 workers at 30 stone crusher mills have lost their jobs due to the halt in sand mining.
“A lot of people had ventured out and tried to get jobs elsewhere but returned empty-handed because no one is hiring right now,” said Hiron Miah, from Purangaon village.
Delwar Hossain said that the mining workers are now selling off their tools like shovels, sieves, and ropes for food as they aren’t able to dive into the river anymore.
Abdul Khaleq said, considering the livelihood of the workers in the pandemic, they should have been given the opportunity to lift sand and stones from the rivers on a small scale.
Tahirpur Upazila Parishad Chairman Karuna Sindhu Chowdhury Babul said: “Traders aren’t able to lease sandpits because of the restriction on sand and stone lifting across the country due to the ongoing pandemic.
“Still, if the local mining workers were given the opportunity to extract sandstones in small scale, they would have an income source open during the pandemic.”
Tahirpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer Padmasan Singha said: “We cannot allow sand and stone mining because of the restriction that has been imposed against it across the country. However, meanwhile, the unemployed sand mining workers can make a living by mining coal from the river as alternative employment.”
