Garment workers withdrew their protest and lifted blockade from the Nabinagar-Chandra highway in Ashulia after 54-hour. Photo: The Daily Observer
After a continuous 54-hour blockade on the Nabinagar-Chandra highway in Ashulia, garment workers withdrew their protest on Wednesday after receiving assurance from joint forces that the factory owner would be arrested and dues settled.
Workers began protesting by blocking the highway, demanding their outstanding payments around 9 AM on Monday. The blockade caused a massive 30-kilometer traffic jam on nearby Bypile-Abdullahpur road and the Dhaka-Aricha Highway, leading to a standstill on these roads.
To resolve the matter, police and army personnel made several attempts to convince the protesting workers to leave the road but failed. Eventually, army promised them that the factory owner will be detained and their due payments will be paid, prompted the workers cleared the highway around 1 PM on Wednesday.
Ashulia Police Station officer-in-charge Abu Bakar Siddique said that the protesting workers withdrew the bloacked after hearing about the promise of factory owner's arrest around 1 PM. Following this, the traffic resumed on the road.
After three days of blockade, limited traffic movement began on the 30-kilometer stretch of the highway, Bypile-Abdullahpur Road, and Dhaka-Aricha Highway, which were all previously gridlocked. The traffic department hoped that the situation would normalize by evening.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Dhaka District Police (Savar Circle) Md. Shahinur Kabir, said that traffic on the highway had resumed due to the combined efforts of police, BGB, RAB, and army. However, the road was still congested, and traffic police were working to restore normalcy.
Earlier, on Monday at 9 AM, workers of Birds Group's garment factory in Ashulia's Bypile area began protesting by blocking the highway, demanding service benefits and compensation.
