Several thousand outsourced employees of different government institutions on Saturday blocked the Shahbagh crossing for about seven hours since 10:00am, pressing for nationalisation of their jobs.
The blockade created huge traffic congestion in the Dhaka city causing sufferings to the people.
The demonstration at Shahbagh, one of the main points in the capital, halted vehicular movements in its adjacent areas including Nilkhet, Banglamotor, Panthapath and other neighbourhoods in the city till about 6:00pm.
Many passengers were seen getting off buses and walking to their destinations while movements of patients to and from the major health facilities located in the city also faced troubles due to the road blockade.
The protesters, however, suspended their blockade programme at about 5:30pm after meeting with the chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary, Shafiqul Alam.
鈥楾he chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary assured us that he would work to fulfill our demand as soon as possible,鈥� said Mahbubur Rahman Anis, coordinator of the outsourced employees鈥� movement and president of the Outsourcing Employees Association.
He, however, announced a 15-day ultimatum to meet their one-point demand, saying that they would go for a tougher programme if their demand is not met.
Earlier, a delegation of six employees of the association went to the CA鈥檚 residence Jamuna at about 3:00pm.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner for Ramna zone Masud Alam said that protesters had blocked the road since 10:00am, causing disruption in the vehicular movement.
鈥業t was difficult to control the situation as two to three thousand protesters blocked the Shahbagh crossing.聽 Our force was on-site to control the situation,鈥� he said.
The protesters lifted the blockade at about 6:00pm and vehicular movement returned to normalcy, the DC added.
Besides their demand for nationalisation of their jobs, protesters also demanded abolition of outsourcing practices in all types of jobs.
Rakibul Islam, an employee at Public Works Department said that outsourcing was a discriminatory system, which should be abolished.
The protesters alleged that bribes of huge amounts were demanded in the name of job renewal in June every year and those who failed to pay the bribes lost their jobs.
They also alleged that outsourced employees did not get their salaries on a regular basis.
Md Selim Hossain, an employee of Bakhrabad Gas Company, said, 鈥業 have been working in the company for the past nine years. In these years, I did not get my salary regularly.聽 Sometimes I got my salary after five to six months.鈥�
He said that it was already difficult for them to run their families as salaries of the outsourced employees were low.聽