Unrest Over Wage Demand: 147 Garment Factories Closed Nationwide, Dhaka-Tangail Highway Blocked for an Hour and a Half in Kaliakair
Amid the ongoing protests and unrest by garment workers demanding the fixing of a minimum wage, 147 readymade garment factories across the country have been declared completely closed. The information was given while speaking to the media on Saturday (14 November) at noon.
At the centre of the workers’ ongoing discontent is the demand to raise the minimum monthly wage to Tk 30,000. Protests and blockades also took place in various industrial areas of the country on Saturday over this demand.
In the Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakair upazila in Gazipur, workers of several garment factories staged a demonstration blocking the Dhaka-Tangail highway, demanding a wage increase. During the blockade, which lasted about an hour and a half, an executive magistrate’s car was vandalised and a severe traffic jam built up on the highway. Police later fired tear gas shells and sound grenades to disperse the protesters from the road in order to bring the law-and-order situation under control and restore traffic.
According to police and eyewitness sources, at around 8:30am on Saturday, workers of six to seven readymade garment factories in the Palli Bidyut and adjoining areas of Kaliakair stopped work and began gathering in front of the factory gates. At one stage, around 10am, they came down onto the Dhaka-Tangail highway in groups and completely stopped traffic.
During the blockade, agitated workers threw brickbats and vandalised the car of an executive magistrate on duty. Vehicles were stuck in long queues at both ends of the highway, causing extreme suffering for passengers.
Describing the police steps to control the situation, Gazipur Industrial Police Superintendent Mohammad Amjad Hossain said workers of several factories in the Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakair took position on the highway together in the morning, creating a standstill. As the road remained blocked for a long time, police used tear shells and sound grenades to remove the protesters to ensure public safety and normalise law and order. Traffic on the highway has now fully returned to normal.
BGB and Ansar members are on alert alongside the Industrial Police and district police to prevent any fresh disorder in the area.
