Road blocked over unpaid wages in Cumilla, police lathicharge

A clash with the police occurred over the blockade of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway by workers of the Cumilla EPZ demanding the payment of arrears of salaries and allowances. Several workers were injured in the lathicharge and several people were detained.

Workers of several organizations, including NASA Group, blocked the highway in the Paduar Bazar area of ​​the district around 10am on Tuesday (April 7). This caused severe traffic jams on both sides of the highway for at least 10 kilometers, causing extreme suffering to passengers and vehicle drivers.

The workers alleged that the organizations were declared closed without paying the arrears of salaries and allowances of at least 1,500 of them. They claimed that despite contacting the authorities, they are delaying the payment of the dues.

A worker, Farhad Hossain Choton, said that about 1,500 workers of our three organizations have arrears of salaries. Despite repeated contacts, no solution is being found.

Another worker, Kamal Hossain, said that although there was a recent meeting, there was no discussion on the workers' issue.

On the other hand, worker Kawsar Hamid said, our demand is that the dues be paid quickly. Otherwise, the highway will be blocked again.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Saiful Malik said that when a request was made to withdraw the blockade, the workers attacked the police. Later, a lathicharge was used to bring the situation under control. Traffic movement began to return to normal around 12:15pm.

Highway Comilla Superintendent of Police Shahinur Alam Khan said that due to the blockade, long traffic jams were created on the highway. Multiple teams worked to control the situation and gradually it returned to normal.