Stakeholders have demanded resumption of activities in all stone and sand quarries in Sylhet region.
They made the demand at a view exchange meeting held at a hotel in the divisional city on Saturday evening.
Brihattar Sylhet Pathor Sangslishto Baybosayi Sramik Oikya Parishad, a regional platform for stone trader and labourers, organised the event with the president of Companiganj Pathor Baybosayi Samity Abdul Jalil in the chair.
Thousands of people, including labourers, helpers and traders, have had their livelihoods hit hard as extraction of stone and sand from the natural quarries in the division has been suspended for months, stakeholders said.
They alleged that some influential and vested quarters have misguided the local administration and the government into suspending extraction of sand and stone to serve their own interests.
Many poor people, who used to earn their livelihoods by working in quarries in Jaintapur, Gowainghat, Companiganj, Kanaighat, Chhatak and other upazilas of Sylhet have been suffering due to joblessness, stakeholders noted.
A good number of transport workers had jobs when quarries were open for extracting sand and stone, they added.
Sylhet Divisional Truck-Covered Van Malik Oikya Parishad President Golam Hadi Saiful, Sylhet zila Truck-PickUp Sramik Union President Abu Sarker and its General Secretary Amir Uddin, among others, spoke at the meeting.
