20 injured in garment workers' clash in Ctg

Bangladesh Milk Producers' Co-operative Union Limited (BMPCUL), manufacturer of Milk Vita dairy products, has been turned into a den of corruption, a parliamentary body observed yesterday.
From production and distribution of milk to appointment of employees -- corrupt practices are everywhere, said members of the parliamentary standing committee on LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry at a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
They also blamed the ministry's inefficiency for the unbridled corruption in the company.
"Three syndicates of officials and employees are controlling the organisation. There is no discipline in it," Rahmat Ali, chief of the JS body, told newsmen after the meeting.
The ministry has formed a three-member committee to break the syndicates. A sub-committee will also be formed to investigate the corruption allegations, he noted.
The BPMCUL authorities, said Rahmat, have appointed a huge number of employees. "We have asked them to sack the unnecessary workforce from the organisation."
The parliamentary body expressed its dissatisfaction at the prevailing situation at the BPMCUL. They also castigated the company for hiking the prices of Milk Vita liquid milk ahead of Ramadan.
"Under the patronisation of the government, some syndicates are active there," committee member and BNP lawmaker Abul Khaiyer Bhuiyan told reporters.
Officials of BPMCUL, however, defended their decision to raise the prices of liquid milk. They assured the committee of supplying adequate milk during Ramadan. Photo: Palash Khan

At least 20 people, including 10 women, were injured as workers of two adjoining garment factories clashed for two hours and a half over a boundary wall dispute in Mansurabad area of Chittagong city yesterday.
All of the injured are workers of Four H Group, police said. They were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
The Four H Group authorities claimed that the adjoining Farzana Garment intentionally erected a boundary wall to cause trouble to the movement of their vehicles by narrowing their access road.
Yesterday, Four H group workers shouted against Farzana Garment when one of their heavy vehicles could not manage to move on the narrow road. Soon after that, the workers of Farzana Garment fell on them with sticks and iron roads, leaving 20 of them injured, police and witnesses said.
The Farzana Garment workers also vandalised three vehicles of Four H Group, said Motiul Islam, officer-in-charge of Double Mooring Police Station. About 30 policemen were deployed at the scene, he added.
GS Jamil, managing director of Four H Group, said production activities at their factory remained suspended after the clash. He said he would sue Farzana Group.
Owner of Farzana Garment, Mohammad Selim, could not be contacted.