Staff Reporter:
A road blockade, enforced by garment workers at the Tejgaon Link Road area in the capital was with-drawn yesterday following the intervention of the Labor and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury after a dispute over unpaid wages.
Around 800 workers of NASA Mainland, a clothes and fabric manufacturer in Dhaka, blocked the road between Mohakhali and Nabisco, demanding payment of their arrears.
To defuse the situation, Labour and Employment Minister and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Em-ployment State Minister Md. Nurul Hoque held discussions with representatives of both the factory man-agement and the workers.
During the meeting, the factory authorities informed that their bank accounts and immovable assets had been frozen, making it difficult to continue run the factory’s operational activities.
However, they said they were in a position to pay salaries for the month of March and sought govern-ment support to settle dues related to earned leave.
The Labor Minister assured the workers that a special meeting would be held today at 11:00 am at the Labor and Employment Ministry with participation of workers’ representatives, NASA Mainland author-ities and BGMEA to resolve the issue.
He noted that the matter involves legal complications and ongoing cases, and said efforts would be made to reach a solution that safeguards workers’ interests while allowing the factory to resume normal opera-tions.
The expatriates’ welfare state minister Nurul Hoque urged the workers to remain calm and withdraw the blockade, calling for cooperation to avoid public suffering.
Following assurances from the authorities and the scheduled meeting, the workers withdrew their protest and cleared the road, restoring normal traffic movement.
Senior officials from the Labor and Employment Ministry and law enforcement agencies were present during the process.
