11 hurt in garment workers-cops clash in Dhaka’s Rampura

At least 11 people, including four policemen, were injured in a clash between garment workers and law enforcers in Rampura area of Dhaka today.

The law enforcers tried to disperse the workers of Lyric Industries Pvt Ltd when they were staging demonstration blocking a road in the area around 11:00am as the factory was shifted to Gazipur without paying their benefits with salaries, witnesses said.

The agitating workers alleged that the authorities of Lyric Industries Pvt Ltd relocated the factory to Gazipur yesterday without informing them.

The agitating workers threw brick bats at the law enforcers and the latter charged batons and fired rubber pellets in retaliation, leaving several people injured, said Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Meanwhile, workers claimed that around 20 garment workers were injured in the clash.

Of the injured, 11 people including four policemen and seven workers were treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Sub- inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of the police outpost at the hospital.

The factory authorities earlier paid the salaries of the workers in advance and said the benefits would be paid later. However, the authorities relocated the factory to Gazipur yesterday without informing the workers, workers alleged.

The owner of Lyric Industries Pvt Ltd was forced to close down the factory as a section of workers were disturbing over the last few months, said Mohammed Nasir, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the garment makers’ platform.

“The BGMEA leaders and owners of the factory have held meeting at the BGMEA office over paying the dues of the workers as the owners have decided to close down the factory,” Nasir said, adding that the factory owners would pay the workers’ dues through the BGMEA.