Staff Reporter :
Workers from Sinha Opex Garments in Kanchpur have blockaded the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway for one and a half hours to press home their three-point demand, including the payment of salary by the 10th of each month.
At least 30 workers and five policemen were injured during the clash between the law enforcers and the demonstrators.
Besides, several hundred vehicles have seen stranded on the highway as the demonstrators took to the street from 10:00am to 11.55am.
Thousands of passengers, including patients and children, were panicked as the workers torched tyres and logs on the highway. The Sinha Opex Garment authorities have been dismissing workers on ‘different excuses’ over the past few months, said a protester seeking anonymous.
According to him, the garment authorities have violated the labour law by failing to pay three months’ salary to some workers upon their dismissals.
He alleged that the owners do not pay allowances when a worker goes on maternity leave while monthly salaries are often paid after the 15th of the month.
Following information, police rushed to the spot and charged batons and fired tear shells to disperse the protesters. The agitators also engaged in sequel clashes with the members of the law enforcing agencies as they foiled the workers’ demonstration, said Additional Superintendent of Industrial Police Saikat A Shahin.
Earlier, police tried to persuade the protesters to leave the street as the traffic came to a standstill. But the workers ignored it and kept protesting on the road.
Later, the police dispersed them by charging batons, firing blank shots and tear gas shells, the police official said.
Workers also subsequently threw brickbats at the law enforcers, injuring at least five policemen, said ASP Saikat.
