The workers of Beximco Industrial Park in Gazpiur continued their protests for the seventh day running on Thursday, demanding salaries and allowances.
Several hundred workers from the Beximco Group blocked the Chandra-Nabinagar Highway at Chakrabarti in front of the industrial park from 9:30am to 7:00pm, pressing their demands, according to the police and witnesses.
Workers in the area have been waging protests occupying the highway for the past seven days despite the interim government approved Tk 60 crore loan funds for Beximco Group to pay October鈥檚 salaries and allowances to its workers and employees.
Commuters have been suffering for hours in the tailbacks caused by the protests.聽
Kashimpur police officer-in-charge Md Saiful Islam said that members of police, industrial police, the Rapid Action Battalion and the Bangladesh Army reached the spot on information in the morning and tried to manage the situation.聽聽
The protesters lifted the blockade at about 7:00pm when initiatives for repaying their arrears were taken, the officer also added.
On Tuesday also the management also promised to give arrears, but failed to make the payment.
Officials said that the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Finance Division on Tuesday decided to provide the loan following a meeting with the Beximco officials at the Secretariat.
About 40,000 workers work in the 24 factories under the Beximco Group. The group, however, has not been able to import raw materials following the regime change as it is a loan defaulter.
Workers of two other factories also blocked the Chandra-Nabinagar stretch of the highway in other places demanding a flyover.
The workers of Norban Comtex limited blocked the highway, demanding a flyover after two of their fellows had been injured in road accidents, Kashimpur police office-in-charge Saiful said.聽
At one point, a rumour had spread that one of the injured was killed on the way to hospital, causing the protest to spread, he added.
The officer said that workers also blocked the same highway on the day in Jirani area as a worker of That`s It Knit Ltd, a concern of Hamim Group, was killed in a road accident on Wednesday morning.
The workers had been protesting on the highway with the demand for the past two days, the police said.
