Blockades from Konabari to Palli Bidyut in Gazipur, tear shells in Mirpur-10; home minister meets garment owners at the Secretariat

The industrial belt of Gazipur heated up again from Monday morning (November 2) in the movement under way for several days demanding that the minimum monthly wage be set at Tk 30,000. Workers from various garment factories are protesting by blockading roads in Konabari, Safipur, Mouchak and the Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakair in Gazipur city.

Traffic on the Dhaka-Tangail highway came to a halt because of the workers' blockade. Meanwhile, when workers blockaded the Bhogra Bypass area of the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, police and BGB members removed them.

To control the situation and remove workers from the roads, law enforcement agencies fired sound grenades and tear shells. Chase and counter-chase took place between the workers and law enforcement members at the time. Police and industrial police are in alert positions at the main gates of various factories in the industrial belt.

Because of the labour unrest, a general holiday was declared from 8am on Monday at various factories in the Konabari, Safipur, Mouchak and Palli Bidyut areas. However, the industrial police have not yet been able to confirm how many factories in total declared a holiday that day.

Gazipur Industrial Police Superintendent of Police Mohammad Amjad Hossain said more than a hundred factories in Gazipur had declared a general holiday yesterday because of the workers' movement. Worker protests are continuing in various areas today as well, he said, and efforts are under way to remove workers from different places and restore traffic.

At around 8:30am, thousands of workers took position on the Dhaka-Tangail highway at the Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakair upazila. Eyewitnesses said a group of workers took position on the highway in the morning and began protesting; the number of workers there then grew, and at one stage traffic came to a halt.

The protesting workers said the prices of daily essentials have risen but their wages have not risen accordingly; buying a single gas cylinder costs Tk 2,500. They said forming a wage board alone will not do — how much their pay has been set at must be announced quickly; their demand is a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000.

The workers also said they are moving peacefully and are not involved in vandalism or arson at factories. They claim some outsiders entered the workers' movement and carried out vandalism and arson to destabilise the situation.

Meanwhile, in Dhaka's Mirpur-10 area, police chased workers when they tried to take position on the road at around 9:15am on Monday. The workers also threw brickbats at police; police fired tear shells to control the situation. Tension prevailed in the area until the last reports, and police were trying to disperse the workers and clear them from the road.

Mirpur police station officer-in-charge (OC) Hafizur Rahman confirmed the matter and said, 'The workers had come to blockade the road. We have removed them.' A tense situation prevails in Mirpur-10 and nearby areas after the clash, most shops are closed, police are not letting anyone stand on the road, and suspicious persons are being stopped and questioned.

Ten platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been deployed in Gazipur to deal with the situation created by the worker protests. Gazipur Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Nurul Karim Bhuiya said BGB members will serve in the district's industrial areas under 21 executive magistrates and have already taken position at various places; law enforcement agencies are working so that no state property or people's lives and property are harmed in the name of the movement.

Amid this situation, garment owner leaders sat in a meeting with Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed at 9:30am on Monday in the conference room of the Home Ministry at the Secretariat. The meeting discussed the garment sector's current situation, the causes of the crisis and what should be done to resolve it. After the meeting, the home minister is scheduled to brief journalists and inform the media about the discussions and decisions.