Dhaka-Tangail highway reopens after five-hour blockade in Gazipur over Tk 30,000 wage demand

Traffic has resumed on the Dhaka-Tangail highway after it remained blocked for five hours by workers demanding a minimum wage of Tk 30,000.

At noon on Monday (November 2), members of the BGB and law enforcement agencies fired sound grenades to clear the workers from the road. Traffic on the highway then returned to normal.

Earlier in the morning, workers from various garment factories in Gazipur's Konabari, Safipur, Mouchak and Palli Bidyut areas blocked the road and demonstrated, bringing traffic on the Dhaka-Tangail highway to a halt.

As law enforcement members tried to remove the workers from the road to bring the situation under control, chases and counter-chases took place between the two sides.

The workers say the prices of daily essentials have risen but their wages have not risen accordingly, and they have been demanding that the minimum monthly wage be set at Tk 30,000. Forming a wage board alone will not be enough, they said; how much their pay has been set at must be announced quickly.

Because of the worker unrest, general holiday was declared from 8am on Monday at various garment factories in the Konabari, Safipur, Mouchak and Palli Bidyut areas. The industrial police, however, could not yet confirm how many factories had declared the holiday.