Stones in Panchagarh rivers offer livelihood for thousands

Dividing Bangladesh and India in the 25-kilometre area from Banglabandha to Tetulia, the Mahananda River is a source of livelihood for many locals in the Panchagarh district with its large reserve of stones.

Drifting from India, these stones meet a large portion of the demand of the country's construction sector.

People concerned say that more than 40,000 people are involved in stone lifting from the Mahananda and other rivers in the area.

About 200 truckloads of stones worth more than Tk2 crore are delivered every day to different districts of the country from Panchagarh. Around 200-250 truckloads of sand go across the country from the district, they say.

Ohidul Islam has been involved in stone lifting from the Mahananda River for about 20 years.

"There was a time when many large stones could be found here. But now only the small ones are available. The number of stone lifters has also increased. The river becomes a hunting ground for thousands of stone lifters during the day. Every day, I come here early in the morning and return home at around 4pm after lifting stones," he said.

Arab Ali, a stone lifter from the Tetulia intersection area, said, "The workers sell the stones to traders at a price of Tk60 to Tk80 per cubic foot (CFT). A person can lift around 14 to 18 cubic feet of stones per day."

However, stone lifters say that members of the Border Security Force (BSF) of India often obstruct the lifting of stones from the river.

Shahidul Islam from the Bhajanpur area said, "Sometimes, they tell the stone traders to stop stone lifting, informing them that the situation is not good. We do not extract any stone during that time. We start working again after getting a green signal from the BSF."

However, women in the area generally do not lift stones from the river. They are engaged as workers for the stone crusher machines.

Aleya Begum works on a stone crusher machine for wages of Tk216 per day. "My husband works as a stone lifter in the river. Instead of being a housewife, I have decided to work to help my husband by earning some money."

Anwara Begum, from the Sardarpara area, said, "Stone crushing exposes us to a lot of dust, which is very harmful for the body. Most of the workers do not use any masks."

Some 47 rivers from India flow through Panchagarh into Bangladesh. Among them, workers lift stones from the Mahananda, Karatoa and Dahuk rivers. However, stones lifted from the Mahananda River are of the best quality, according to the traders.

They say the lone hard-rock mine in the country is in Parbatipur, Dinajpur, which often remains closed due to various reasons. However, stone lifting from the rivers in Panchagarh has never been stopped in recent memory.

Md Abdul Sami is one of around 5,000 traders who buy stones from the workers in Panchagarh.

He said, "I had worked as a stone lifter for 15 years. Now I am a trader. I buy around four truckloads of stones per day. Around 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh cubic feet of stones are extracted from the river per month."

Another trader, Md Omar Faruque, said, "After buying them, at first we crush the large stones. Then we sell them to wholesale traders."

Many traders are also involved in importing stones from India and Nepal through the Banglabandha land port.

Saidur Rahman, owner of Shovon Enterprise, said, "Around 400 truckloads of stones enter through the port per day. However, we have no data on the total amount of stones extracted in the country."

Ramjan Ali, organising secretary of the Truck Tractor Covered Van Workers Union, said, "Transport owners get more than Tk1 crore by transporting stones and sand from Panchagarh."

Kudrat-e-Khuda Milan, chairman of Banglabandha union parishad, said about 40,000 people from the area are directly involved in this profession.

Md Zohurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Panchagarh, told The Business Standard, "A plan has been formulated on the natural resources of the district, especially stones. If a commercial centre can be created in the area based on this industry, it will create more employment opportunities for the people of this region."