Commuters suffer as RMG workers agitate in Uttara

Several thousand readymade garment workers yesterday blocked Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in the capital's Uttara, protesting sacking of some workers of a factory.

The blockade disrupted vehicular movement on the busy thoroughfare for over three hours. Hundreds of vehicles, including buses, to and from Dhaka remained stuck on the street from 11:00am to 2:30pm, causing sufferings to people.

Workers of Top Jeans Factory at Uttar Khan first started the agitation in front of their factory around 10:00am, said police.

People had to walk to their destinations as traffic on both sides of the street came to a standstill during the demonstration. Photo: Rashed Shumon

As a rumour spread that an agitator was stabbed by the men of the factory owner, workers from different garment factories in Uttar Khan, Dakkhin Khan and Tongi joined the demonstration, they said.

Ali Hossain Khan, officer-in-charge of Uttara West Police Station, said four to five thousand workers blocked the street at Abdullahpur in Uttara around 11:00am. 

Police asked them to clear the road, but they did not pay heed. The protesters did not vandalise any vehicles, he said.

The demonstrators left the street around 2:30pm when representatives from Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association went there and assured them of fulfilling their demands, including reinstating the sacked workers, by September 1, the OC added.

The workers of the factory took to the streets mainly because the fired workers did not get their termination benefits as per rule, said BGMEA Vice-president Faruque Hassan.