Rana Plaza survivors block Dhaka-Aricha highway
The home-bound people had to suffer a lot stranding on a 6-kilometer tailback Monday morning as the survivors of Rana Plaza tragedy blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar for two hours demanding their salaries and compensation.
Around 10 demonstrators were injured when law enforcers charged truncheons on them in a bid to clear the highway, reported our Savar correspondent quoting witnesses.
At least 1,132 people mostly garment workers were killed and 2,438 rescued from the debris of the nine-storey Rana Plaza that collapsed in Savar on April 24.
The building housed several garment factories and the tragedy is regarded the worst industrials disaster in Bangladesh.
Several thousand vehicles carrying the home-bound people ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims, came to a halt as around 500 Rana Plaza survivors and their relatives took to the highway stretching from Ulail area to Radio Colony in Savar around 9:00am.
They demanded salaries for three months from May, Eid bonuses, compensation and costs of rehabilitation and treatment.
Under labour rules, the authorities of a factory must pay salaries for three months when they declare a factory closed, the agitating workers claimed.
The road communications however resumed when law enforcers dispersed the agitators around 11:00am, witnesses said.
Farid Uddin, a sub-inspector of Savar Model Police Station, said they charged batons to clear the highway to minimise the sufferings of the home-bound people.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA) had earlier paid the Rana Plaza workers the salary for April.
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