Stone quarries of Bichnakandi

The last day of our tour to Sylhet was the most dramatic one for us. We heard of a place called Bichnakandi near the Bangladesh-India border where there was a stone quarry. We have never seen a quarry and were very interested to go and photograph the place. What we saw was probably beyond our imaginations. Almost 8-10 sqr. kilometers of area were filled with huge pits dug into the earth for open pit stone mining. The working conditions were horrible and there was child labours in the pit. The pay the workers get is around 2 dollars a day. There is no safety gears nor any emergency medical services available if there’s an accident. The workers all live in small villages nearby with no modern amenities at all. The nearest place with electricity is 7 to 8 kilometers far. The region is also under a risk of great calamity if earthquake strikes the area since Sylhet lies in a geographically volatile region. And with the upset balance created just by this open pit mining under the Meghalayan mountains just over the Indian border has increased the risk tremendously. We reached the place during lunch time so, we got some unique photos. I hope to document more of this place in future because one day was just not enough to portray the misery, the hardship and the real picture of these people’s lives.