Dhaka-Mymensingh road blocked as female worker killed in road crash

Readymade garments workers blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur in protest of the death of a female worker in a road accident in the area Wednesday morning.

Jannatul Ferdous, 32, a swing operator at Golden Refit Garments Ltd. was killed in a road accident on the highway in front of the garment factory around 6:00 am today.

Later, over 100 workers started demonstrations with bamboo-rods in their hands around 8:00 am, stopping movement of vehicles on both sides of the road.

This has created a huge suffering for the people.

The workers alleged that the factory authorities have kept the body inside the factory to stop their protests.

The workers were demonstrating while filing this report around 11:00 am.

The demonstrating workers said Jannatul Ferdous applied for a leave to the garment’s authorities Tuesday night as her child was ill. But the authorities, instead of granting the leave, kept her identity card and threw her out of the factory. She was hit by an auto-rickshaw and a truck while crossing the road to go to the factory this morning. Later, she succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital.

Following the incident, workers of the Golden Refit Garments Ltd. started the protests in the Bagher Bazar area on the highway around 8:00 am

All but the security guards have taken refuge inside the factory.

The industrial police and members of local police station were seen talking to the demonstrating workers to quell them.

Joydebpur police station officer-in-charge Abdul Halim told Prothom Alo, “The workers have been demonstrating blocking the highway due to the death of a worker in a road accident. We are trying to bring the situation under control by talking to them.”