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Download PDF Thousands of people travelling to the port city and the capital ahead of Eid, faced untold sufferings yesterday as agitating jute mill workers blockaded the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to press home their demands for payment of arrears and bonuses.
Hundreds of buses, trucks and other vehicles were stuck in a severe traffic gridlock for over three hours as the angry workers of Anwara Jute Mill laid the barricades in front of the mill gate at Barabkunda under Sitakunda upazila at around 10:00am.
The snarl-up stretched to around 30 kilometres, police and witnesses said.
At around 1:15pm, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Sitakunda Jalaluddin Ahmed along with the police officials negotiated with the CBA leaders of the mill and assured them of payment of 10-days’ arrear salaries by yesterday evening and the rest by this noon.
The agitating workers then removed the barricades for a while and held a rally in front of the mill gate where the CBA leaders threatened to blockade the highway again today if the authorities failed to do that. CBA President of Anwara Jute Mill Ali Akbar, general secretary Shah Alam and Upazila Sramik League president Nur Ahammad spoke at the rally.
Then the workers tried to blockade the road again as they sought a direct answer from the mill authorities in this regard.
Finally, they agreed to remove the barricades at around 1:30pm when the UNO assured them of talking with the mill authorities immediately and went to the mill along with the workers.
Meanwhile, the workers of four jute mills owned by the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) also threatened to blockade the highway today if their demands for payment of all dues and bonuses are not met by yesterday as per its pre-announced programme.
The mills include Hafiz Jute Mill, Gul Ahmad Jute Mill, MM Jute Mill and RR Jute Mill.
The workers of these mills observed blockade programmes on the highway on September 5, September 27 and October 4 to press home the same demands.
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