Industrial Police authorities are apprehending labour unrest in about 70 garment factories over non-payment or partial payment of wages and bonus ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr festival. They have termed those factories vulnerable. The Industrial Police strengthened special monitoring over those factories by deploying additional forces by dividing them into 10 zones. “We have deployed additional forces after grouping the factories in 10 zones around the city,” said inspector of Industrial Police Intelligence Arifur Rahman. Of the vulnerable factories, 59 are in the woven sector and the rest are in the knitwear sector. Apart from keeping a close watch on 75 vulnerable factories, the police have also kept an eye over some 70-80 factories which over to pay off the workers’ wages and other dues between 15th and 25th of the month of Ramadan. The police, however, have learnt that most of the factories in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) and Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) have paid up the wages and the bonus will be paid before the Eid vacation. The police inspector said they had talked with the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) and BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association) leaders on the issue and urged them to clear the dues of the workers for the sake of peace and order in the factories. They have also sat with some leaders of the garment workers and urged them to maintain peaceful environment in the factories. BGMEA leaders said they are not worried so much because they have not received any complaint from any of their members. Asked, a leader of BGMEA said they were yet to receive any information about labour unrest in any factory under their association. “We are yet to receive any such bad news. We have told our members to keep us informed if they cannot pay off the wages of the workers. But no one gave such information until today,” said BGMEA director in Chittagong Anjan Shekhar Das. The member — factories of the BGMEA and BKMEA generally pay the wages well ahead of the Eid, he said. There are 772 garment factories in Chittagong under the BGMEA and BKMEA but some 550 of them are in operation.
