Staff Reporter :
Another jute mills worker has died at Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH), following a hunger strike by the state-owned jute mill workers to press home their 11-point demand.
The deceased is Sohrab Hossain, 55, a worker at the mechanical department of Platinum Jute Mill.
The state-owned jute mills’ CBA-Non CBA Sangram Parishad Joint Convener Khalilur Rahman said: “Sohrab fell sick during the protest and was admitted to a local clinic. After recovering, he joined work on Saturday.
“On Sunday, he fell sick again and was rushed to KMCH, where he died around 7am.” Workers of 24 state-owned jute mills in Khulna and Jashore regions, out of the 26 which are under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), began the strike on December 10 to press home their 11-point demand under the banner of CBA-Non CBA Sangram Parishad.
Their demands include implementation of the proposals of the National Wage Commission, payment of all weekly wages, adequate budgetary allocation for the jute sector and ensuring sale of jute products, payment of outstanding provident fund dues and gratuity to retired workers and settlement of insurance benefits for families of deceased workers. The recruitment of workers, regularization of temporary workers, reinstatement of sacked workers, and balancing, modernizing, rehabilitating, and expanding the jute mills for better productivity.
On December 12, Abdur Sattar, 58, another worker of Platinum Jute Mills, died around 6 pm, and hundreds of others fell sick during the strike.
On December 14, the state-owned jute mill workers suspended their ongoing hunger strike for three days in honour of Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory Day.
