City corporation garbage truck kills worker, road blocked

Workers blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur on Saturday after a woman worker was run over by a garbage truck of the city corporation in the morning.

According to police and workers, a group of workers were crossing the road in Kunia Borobari area around 8:00am. At that time, a city corporation garbage truck ran over a woman worker killing her on the spot.

Details of the deceased were immediately unavailable.

As the news spread, workers of several nearby factories took to the street. They took position on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway blocking the road. The agitated workers also vandalised at least 15 vehicles and set fire to the garbage truck.

On information, forces from the local police station and traffic department rushed to the spot and recovered the body. The body has been sent to the Shaheed Taj Uddin Ahmad Medical College in Gazipur for an autopsy.

Locals said construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project has been underway on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway for a long time. The road dividers have been removed for the works. As a result, accidents have become recurrent, especially while crossing the road there.

Gazipur’s Gacha police station officer-in-charge (OC) Shah Alam confirmed the news to Prothom Alo. He said police were trying to bring the situation under control.

Traffic remained halted on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway until 9:30am.