Unrest continues to weigh on industrial belt

After four days of closure, apparel production resumed in the Ashulia and Gazipur industrial belts yesterday morning amid tight security.

Although production remained unaffected in Gazipur, operations were halted in the afternoon in Ashulia as violence and vandalism erupted, leaving at least 37 people injured, including workers, police and pedestrians.

According to workers, unidentified miscreants attacked around 100 production units in Ashulia despite the heavy presence of security personnel, forcing thousands of workers to flee.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, drug-makers, reached an agreement with agitating workers yesterday and announced plans to resume pharmaceutical manufacturing soon.

"Despite our commitment to resuming production, we were unable to continue as planned after lunch due to the workers' violent and destructive behaviour at the factories in the Ashulia industrial belt," said Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

He said that hundreds of thousands of workers had poured out of the factories in the afternoon, overwhelming the efforts of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to maintain order.

The injured at Narsinghpur area on the Baipail-Abdullahpur road were taken to the Ashulia Women and Children Hospital in Savar.

Mirazul Islam, a duty doctor at the Ashulia Women and Children Hospital, confirmed that at least 30 people had received treatment, with some being admitted for further care.

According to injured workers there, they gathered outside their factories when they were suddenly attacked by hundreds of unidentified individuals armed with sticks.

According to our correspondent, in the Narsinghpur area, a group of individuals armed with sticks was seen near the premises of the export-oriented garment manufacturer Sharmin Group, apparently protecting the factory.

Requesting anonymity, a worker of that group, said, "I took position on the premises to protect my factory from attack by outsiders."

Meanwhile, the situation turned volatile as workers from a nearby factory blocked the Nabinagar-Chandra highway. Army and police later intervened, dispersing the protesters from the road.

Speaking to, Mohammad Sarwar Alam, superintendent of Ashulia Industrial Police-1, said as police tried to disperse the agitating mob, angry workers retaliated, leaving seven policemen injured.

He said two individuals were detained with the help of workers during the factory attack.

Gazipur calm

In Gazipur, operations at all factories resumed yesterday as security measures were beefed up in the industrial area.

Workers were seen entering factories in groups in various industrial neighbourhoods, including Tongi, Bhogra Bypass, Mauna and Konabari.

Imran Ahmmed, additional superintendent of police of Gazipur Industrial Zone-2, told that all factories in Gazipur were open yesterday.

About 900 industrial police were deployed in the district to avoid untoward incidents.

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Bangladesh Army were patrolling the area since morning.

Imran said the authorities announced a closure at 60 garment factories in Gazipur amid worker unrest, road blockades and vandalisms in the last few days.

On Wednesday, BGMEA announced that the factory would reopen the next day after getting the necessary security assurance from the authorities.

Pharma labour agiattion subsies

Labour agitation in the local pharmaceuticals industry eased yesterday as workers accepted assurances by the owners.

According to industry insiders, the workers and their employers reached a consensus yesterday. Pharmaceutical manufacturing will resume soon.

According to them, no untoward incident occurred yesterday at the drug-making units mostly located in Gazipur.

SM Shafiuzzaman, general secretary of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries, said there was no worker unrest in any pharmaceutical industry yesterday.

Md Zahangir Alam, chief financial officer of Square Pharmaceuticals PLC, said, "We convinced the workers. They also realised their mistakes and sought an apology yesterday."

Referring to the workers, he said they understood that the outsiders instigated them to carry out subversive activities in the name of demands.

Alam said they have assured the workers to regularise the job for the casual workers and increase the salary at rational levels.

He said the workers acknowledged that they had raised some illogical demands which were eventually harmful to the industry.

Md Mahbubul Karim, executive director at Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd, said the workers will return to the production lines on the next working day.

Karim said they would fulfil the logical labour demands.