Relatives of victims block highway
Relatives of missing victims of Rana Plaza tragedy and workers of the garment factories housed in the collapsed building yesterday staged demonstrations at Savar bazar bus stand.
They blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway demanding payment of their due salaries for the month of May, bonus, compensation and rehabilitation before the Eid.
Home-bound people remained stuck in several hundred vehicles as a six-kilometre tailback stretching from Ulail to Radio Colony was created due to the nearly three-hour blockade.
At least 10 workers were injured when police charged batons to disperse the agitators in front of the Rana Plaza site, workers said.
Witnesses said over 500 surviving workers and relatives of the missing victims started demonstrations on the highway around 9:00am and continued it until 11:45am.
A number of injured workers said they had been suffering from acute financial crisis as they had no other source of income.
They would go for tougher agitation programme before Eid, if their demands were not met immediately, they added.
Farid Uddin, a sub-inspector of Savar Model Police Station, said they had charged truncheons on the demonstrators only to keep the busy highway free from traffic congestion.
"People are now going home to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr. It is our duty to remove blockade from the highway," he added.
The collapse of the nine-storey building, which housed several garment factories, on April 24 claimed 1,132 lives. At least 2,438 were rescued, many of them maimed.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters' Association had earlier paid the workers the salary for April.
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