Dhaka-Tangail highway blocked again by garment workers, BGB deployed

Garment workers have once again staged a protest on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur, demanding that the minimum monthly wage be raised to Tk 30,000. They blocked the highway in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area from 7:00am on Monday. The blockade has caused traffic congestion stretching at least 10km on both sides of the highway, leaving passengers and drivers travelling to different destinations in distress. According to police and local sources, a group of workers gathered in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area on Monday morning and took to the highway to stage a demonstration. More people later joined them, bringing traffic to a halt on both sides. Kaliakair Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shahidul Islam said efforts were under way to resolve the situation through talks with the workers.

He claimed that a group of workers and outsiders had gathered in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area and blocked the highway before launching a demonstration demanding higher wages. Gazipur Deputy Commissioner Md Nurul Karim Bhuiyan said 10 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel had been deployed from Monday to control the workers’ movement. Executive magistrates would also be on duty alongside them, he added. Earlier, garment workers began protesting and blocking roads from Sunday morning in Chandra Palli Bidyut, Safipur Bazar, Mouchak and Telichala in Kaliakair. Traffic has come to a halt as garment workers block the Dhaka-Tangail highway in protest. In front of the Ansar-VDP Academy in Safipur, Kaliakair upazila, Gazipur, around 8:30am, 2 November. Amid tensions throughout the day, a fabric scrap (jhut) warehouse of a garment factory and a police van were set on fire in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area around…