Friday, October 4, 2024

Garment workers clash with police: 100 injured

At least 100 workers of readymade garments (RMG) factories were injured when police charged batons on them on the compound of Rana Plaza, the building which collapsed on Tuesday morning.
Of those injured, 22 were admitted to different local hospitals and private clinics in a critical condition. Witnesses said thousands of RMG workers of different garment factories in the Savar-Ashulia industrial belt, who were aggrieved by the collapse of the Rana Plaza building that has claimed over 390 lives so far, organised processions from different places of the belt and congregated on the compound since 10am. Later, they tried to break through the police cordon set up around the building.
At one stage, law enforcement personnel charged batons on the irate workers to bring the situation under control, causing injuries to 100 people.
The workers chanted slogans demanding that the death penalty be awarded to Sohel Rana, the owner of the collapsed building, and that those who are still missing in the incident be rescued.
Later, the workers vandalised some 20 moving vehicles on the Dhaka-Aricha highway and seven markets in the area.
Witnesses said hundreds of agitated workers organised protests on the Dhaka-Aricha highway and some 500 workers vandalised a factory of the Al-Muslim group. At one stage, workers of the Al-Muslim group clashed with the agitated workers, leaving 30 people injured.
The workers were staging a demonstration in Savar bus stand area till the time of filing of this report at 1pm on Tuesday. A huge number of law enforcement personnel has been deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
All readymade garment factories in Savar and Ashulia remained closed for the second successive day on Tuesday as workers continued to agitate and clashed with the police on the streets, reportedly after cracks surfaced in a factory.
Industrial police director Md Moniruzzaman said the factories in the area were closed for the second consecutive day to prevent disturbances.
Moniruzzaman said the workers hit the streets minutes after they reported for work, disrupting vehicular traffic on the Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Tangail highways.
Several thousand workers of nearly 500 factories came out at Savar’s Ulail, Rajphulbaria, Savar Bus Stand and Rajasan Road, and Ashulia’s Jamgarh, Narsinghapur, Nischintapur, Jirabo and Pukurparh to stage demonstrations.
They also clashed with the police as the latter moved in to disperse the protestors at Ulail, Savar Bus Stand and Jamgarh. The police said they fired several rounds of teargas shells to drive away the agitators.
Workers of RH Garment, owned by the Prime Group, reportedly launched the agitation and were later joined by workers from the factories of the Muslim Group and Al Islam Group, which are close by.
The RH Garment factory employs nearly 8,000 workers. The workers were allegedly forced to continue work though cracks had appeared in the building of their factory.
Nahidul Islam, a worker, alleged that the management did not pay heed to the cracks and locked the gate in the morning to prevent workers from leaving the premises. He claimed the workers smashed the lock and came out on the road.
The irate garment workers blocked two highways in Kanchpur in the morning demanding capital punishment for Sohel Rana, owner of Rana Plaza. Police sources and witnesses said the RMG workers stopped work and staged protests in Kanchpur. They blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway and brought out rallies, demanding capital punishment for Sohel Rana.
The authorities of all garment factories in the area closed their factories following the protests on Monday morning.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police personnel rushed to the spot to prevent any clash.
Mahabubul Alam, N’ganj industrial police-4 director (superintendent of police), said, “After the Kanchpur factories were declared shut, workers left the factories. Additional law enforcement personnel were deployed in the area to preclude any untoward incident.”

-With The Independent input

Related News

Bangladeshi expat wins Tk 65 cr in lottery in UAE Big Ticket draw

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladeshi expat Abul Monsur, hailing from Chattogram, has won Dh20 million, or over Tk65 crore, grand prize with the latest Big Ticket draw in the United Arab Emirates. Abul Monsur Abdul Sabur, a 50-year-old based in Abu Dhabi, has been buying the raffle draws’ entries since 2007. In its latest edition, ... Read more

Motorcycle sales tumble to seven-year low

Mahfuz Ullah Babu Rising costs, consumers’ weakening purchasing capacity, and adverse policy treatments blamed The hope of manufacturers for a scaled-up motorcycle market – to reach a million units a year by 2027 – now seems to be fading away. The economic slowdown, coupled with a sharp rise in costs and selling prices, has instead ... Read more

Metro rail to begin operations on Fridays too

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) is set to launch metro rail services on Fridays soon. Currently, the services are closed on Fridays. MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, told media on Monday that the company started preparatory work on the day to start services on ... Read more

Academic activities in all public universities in Bangladesh remain stalled

Shahin Akhter Amid the academic activities coming to a near halt in most public universities triggered by a wave of resignation from top officials, the Secondary and Higher Education Division on Thursday in an order asked the universities tackling the situation to allow a senior teacher to carry out the administrative and finance related tasks ... Read more

Sundarbans to reopen for fishers, tourists from Sept 1

News Desk : dhakamirror.com After nearly three months of closure, the Forest Department will reopen the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO world heritage site from September 1 (Sunday). From that day, fishermen and tourists will be able to enter the world’s largest mangrove forest after obtaining a permit from the Department ... Read more

Govt decreases fuel prices

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The government reduced octane and petrol prices by Tk6 per litre, according to a press release by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources issued today (31 August). Meanwhile, the price of diesel has been reduced by Tk1.25 per litre. Starting tomorrow (1 September), the new price for octane will ... Read more

All educational institutions to reopen on 18 August

News Desk : dhakamirror.com All educational institutions under the education ministry have been instructed to resume academic activities from Sunday, August 18, 2024. The announcement was made through an office order issued by the ministry on Thursday. The order said that following the approval of the chief adviser the educational institutions were instructed to take ... Read more

Interim govt led by Dr Yunus sworn in

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Nobel Peace Prize winner and globally acclaimed economist Professor Muhammad Yunus was sworn-in as the chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh Thursday evening (8 August). President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath of office to the 17-member interim government. Leaders of various political parties including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiyo Party, Krishak ... Read more

Dr Yunus to lead the interim government

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus will be the chief adviser of the interim government, said a press release of Bangabhaban yesterday. The decision came after a meeting on the formation of the interim government between key organisers of the anti-discriminatory movement and President Mohammed Shahabuddin. The heads of the three armed ... Read more

Mainul Islam made new IGP

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The government on Tuesday appointed Traffic and Driving School commandant Md Moinul Islam as the new inspector general of police. Public Security Division of the home ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard on Tuesday. The decision came a day after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government amid mass uprising ... Read more

Curfew to end on Tuesday morning; all offices, educational institutions set to open

News Desk : dhakamirror.com An ongoing curfew will be in effect from Monday midnight until 6am on Tuesday, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate. Starting Tuesday morning, all government, semi-government, autonomous, semi-autonomous, private institutions, factories, schools, colleges, madrasas, universities and all educational institutions in Bangladesh will remain open, a press release of the ISPR ... Read more

Internet likely to face disruption for 12 hours today

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Internet connectivity in Bangladesh will face partial disruption for 12 hours from this morning because of maintenance of 1st submarine cable, said Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC (BSCPLC) in a press release. The statement said from 6:01 am to 6:00 pm, the consortium has scheduled maintenance for a land cable fault near ... Read more

Chess Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman passes away

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladesh Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman passed away at a hospital in the city after suffering a heart attack during the 12th round game of the ongoing National Chess Championship at the Chess Federation on Friday. Zia bhai is no more. He breathed his last at around 6:00pm at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital,’ confirmed ... Read more

Ending GPA-5 era, SSC results to be published with English letter grades

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams will no longer be evaluated under the Grade Point Average 1-5 scale but rather be graded with English letters. A meeting of the National Curriculum Coordination Committee with the Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury approved the new evaluation framework on Monday (1 July). “There are ... Read more

Over 1.04 crore animals sacrificed on Eid-ul-Adha this year

News Desk : dhakamirror.com A total of 1,04,08,918 animals were sacrificed across the country on the occasion of the holy Eid-ul-Azha this year. As many as 3, 67, 106 more animals were slaughtered this year compared to previous year, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock said in a press release on Tuesday. This year the ... Read more

9am-5pm office time to resume from Wednesday

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The public offices across Bangladesh are set to go back to old office timing from 9:00am to 5:00pm with Fridays and Saturdays being the weekly holidays as usual from Wednesday. The cabinet in its weekly meeting on June 3 decided restoring the old office timing between 9:00am and 5:00pm on weekdays ... Read more

5 magnitude earthquake jolts parts of Bangladesh

News Desk : dhakamirror.com A magnitude 5 earthquake jolted a large part of the country on Sunday (2 June) afternoon., including Dhaka. The quake struck at 2:44pm from a depth of about 110km, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, and was centred in the Mawlaik area of Myanmar, 441 km southeast of Dhaka. The quake ... Read more

Over 2cr to be fed as daylong Vitamin ‘A’ plus campaign begins

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The National Vitamin A-plus campaign is being conducted with a target to feed the capsules to over 2.22 crore children, aged between six months and 59 months. The campaign started at 8am on Saturday (June 1) and will continue till 4pm. Feeding Vitamin A capsules prevents blindness in children, ensures normal ... Read more

Postponed notice fake, HSC exams on June 30 as per schedule

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exams will be held on time as per previous announcement, beginning on 30 June. The routine deferring the exams for a month that is making rounds in social media, is fake, the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka said on Saturday. A circular ... Read more

3 month-long ban on fishing, tourism in Sundarbans begins

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The forest department has imposed this three-month ban on fishing and tourism in the Sundarbans. Local communities, including fishermen, wood and honey collectors, who depend on the Sundarbans for their livelihoods, are concerned about a three-month ban on all activities in the forest starting Saturday. The restriction applies to visitors, including ... Read more