Garment workers in Dhaka's Dhamrai staged a demonstration on the Dhaka-Aricha highway for the second consecutive day demanding salaries and Eid bonuses.
Hundreds of workers of Odyssey Craft (Pvt) Ltd started their demonstration in front of the factory gate near Sombhag Union Parishad Bazar at Dhamrai in the morning, our Savar correspondent reports.
Then, they tried to block the highway around 12:00pm but law enforcers dispersed them using water cannons and teargas shells, said Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) Dhamrai Police Station.
OC Sirajul said, "We have held a meeting with the workers and their labour leaders and factory authorities. At the meeting, the factory authorities have assured that they would pay all the salaries and bonuses to the workers on April 8.
"The situation on the highway is normal now and additional police personnel have been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident," he added.
Russell Pramanik, president of the regional committee of the Bangladesh Textile and Clothing Industry Workers League, said, "Today was the scheduled date for payment of salary and bonus but the factory authorities kept the factory closed."
The factory's Managing Director Abu Bakar Siddique Khan did not answer his phone when our correspondent called him for comment on the issue.
Yesterday, the workers protested the closure of the factory before the scheduled date of payment of salary and Eid bonus.
