The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Agitated by sudden closure of their factory and the recent death of a female colleague, about 1,000 garment workers yesterday blocked vehicular movement on Mirpur-Agargaon road as they held a sit-in demonstration on the busy Rokeya Smarani till 4:30pm from 9:00am.

Thousands of residents of Mirpur, Sheorapara and Pallabi thanas had to face a serious problem on their way to and from the main city as the sit-in strike that generated heavy traffic jam on both sides of Rokeya Smarani and some other roads as those had to experienc additional traffic pressure.

Witnesses said the enraged garments workers withdrew their agitation at 4:30pm after announcing fresh action programmes to realise their demands. The vehicular movement on the road remained suspended till the programme concluded.

The workers of SQ Garments at Shewrapara began the sit-in at 9:00 in the morning to realise various demands, including immediate reopening of the closed garment factory.

Later, as workers from other adjoining garment factories joined the demonstration, several hundred vehicles got stranded on both sides of the road causing severe traffic jam.

Police quoting local sources said the garment workers had been demanding for long the withdrawal of night shift, increase of tiffin allowance and compensation to the family of a female worker, Salma, 22, of Pabna, who fell sick on Monday while on duty and later died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The workers said Salma had been working in the factory for the last few weeks with serious ailment, since the management did not grant her leave despite repeated appeals.

Witnesses said the workers burst into anger when they came to join work in the morning and found the factory closed without any prior notice.

At one stage, several hundred workers of the factory took to the street at about 9:00am chanting slogans against the highhandedness of the management and halted vehicular movement on the road.

BGMEA Joint Secretary Mansur Khaled visited the scene to persuade the agitated workers to lift the sit-in assuring them of looking into their grievances, but had to leave in the face of rage of the workers. He also had discussion with the factory management that remained evasive of the workers demand.

On information, police rushed to the spot and the law enforcers tried to disperse the agitated workers.

Kafrul thana Officer-in-Charge (O/C) M Akram Hossain said 11 platoons of police have been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident.

BGMEA Vice-President Ferdous Parvez Bivon, in a statement yesterday, called upon the agitated workers to sit for talks and shun demonstration.

DMP DC (Mirpur) Anwar Hossain, who visited the spot, identified that the agitated workers' had no leadership and they were making different demands at different times, making conciliatory solution impossible.

However, BGMEA sources said they would resolve the problem today through a tripartite negotiation that would include the demonstrators and the factory management.