A worker was shot dead and 50 were injured in a clash between the workers of two spinning mills at Nagarhaola village under Sripur upazila in Gazipur on early Friday.
The deceased was identified as Spinning Mills iron headman Abdus Salam, 35, son of Mainuddin of the area. The police arrested three security guards of Gulshan Spinning Mills.
Locals said that there was dispute over a land of 14 bighas between the two mills.
Arif Spinning Mills, a concern of NR Group, authority claimed that the Gulshan Spinning Mills grabbed their land two years ago, while the latter claimed that they owned the land.
The locals said that the Arif Spinning Mills authority on Friday send their workers along with excavator, truck and bulldogger to
work beside the disputed land to build a boundary wall. The security guards of Gulshan Spinning Mills opened fire at them and attacked them.
The critically injured workers, who received bullets injuries, were sent to different hospitals and clinics.
The attacker also vandalised excavator, truck and bulldogger and other construction materials, witnesses said.
Gazipur industrial police sub-inspector Md Aktaruzzaman said that previous enmity over the land dispute caused the clash.
NR Group managing director, Shahajada Pradhan Babul, said that they had bought about 100 bighas of land many years ago, but about two years back, Gulshan Spinning Mills claimed that they were the owner of 14 bighas of the land. Several attempts failed to settle the dispute.
‘So, we began to construct a wall so that more lands could not be grabbed and the opponents attacked our men and killed one,’ he said.
Gulshan Spinning Mills manager SM Faruk Hossain denied any attack and said, ‘the workers of Arif Spinning Mills tried to enter our factory and the clash took place as we wanted resist them.’
-With New Age input
