In order to provide clean drinking water for labourers at tea gardens, the government has taken a project. A decision has also been taken to extend a hygienic sanitation system for them.
In seven districts, Moulavibazar, Habiganj, Sylhet, Chattogram, Rangamati, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh, as many 3,908,238 labourers work in 162 tea gardens. Of them, 75 per cent are women.
The water supply plus sanitation in most gardens are inadequate.
The expected cost of the new project will be Tk. 611 million, to be given by the government’s own funds. The public health engineering department under the ministry of local government will implement this by Dec 31, 2020. The project was approved at the ECNEC on 7 November last.
Local government sources say, with supply of fresh water and improvement of sanitation, the overall lifestyle of tea garden workers will improve and help in the attainment of sustainable development.
In preserving fresh water, rain water harvesting will be introduced with 3004 tube-wells placed. Also, there will be 100 bio fills, 107 latrines and 9398 sanitary latrines.
Hygiene related training will be provided. Local government minister, Mosharraf Hossain, told Bangla Tribune: “due to lack of proper sanitation and clean water most workers led wretched lives.”
With the implementation of the project, their lives will improve, he asserted.