Staff Reporter :
Several hundreds of readymade garment (RMG) workers on Monday put up barricade on the Zoo Road near Sony Cinema Hall in Mirpur area in the city demanding the payment of dues and compensation.
They also clashed with police. Police brought the situation under control by clubbing the agitated workers and lobbing teargas shells. Several of the workers were injured in the incident, according to witnesses.
Traffic movement on the busy road remained halted 11am to 1pm due to the blockade causing a long tailback on different roads in the city.
The workers claimed that in a meeting with the workers on Sunday night, the authorities of the factory pledged to pay their wages on Monday morning before a planned shifting of the factory building from the area.
“Like previous when we came to our workplace on Monday morning found a closure notice in front of our factories and machineries have also been shifted from the building,” Sonya Begum, a worker of the factory said. Sumi Begum, another worker of the factory, said around 1,600 employees are working at the factory, which was scheduled to shift to Gazipur by February.
“We talked to the authorities last night about our dues and compensation. They agreed with us. But without paying our dues and compensation, the authority shut the factory and shifted all machineries overnight,” she alleged
But the authorities locked the gate of the factory in the morning.
Protesting the incident, the workers gathered in front of the factory and blocked the road from Sony Cinema Hall to Mirpur Zoo road at 8am.
On information, police rushed to spot and tried to disperse them from the road by charging batons and lobbing teargas shells.
After a while, the workers gathered again in front of the factory and hurled brick chips towards the law enforcers around 11.30am.
Then police again opened teargas shells and charged batons on the workers to bring the situation under control around 12 noon.
