Citizens on Thursday staged protests at different parts of the city demanding stern actions against the RMG factory owners and others for the killing of readymade workers in the Rana Plaza collapse incident.Hundreds of citizens joined a protest rally arranged by Battala, a theatre organisation, at Manik Mian Avenue around 3:00pm.
After the rally, they marched towards BGMEA Bhaban and took position in front of it till 6:30pm.
Another rally was arranged under the banner of ‘Students-Teachers-Professionals-Journalists’ on the foot of Razu Monument at Dhaka University at about 4:30pm. This rally also marched towards the BGMEA Bhaban.
Organisers of both the platforms demanded immediate arrest of those responsible for the building collapse at Savar.
They also slammed the government agencies for the ‘slow’ rescue operation in the collapsed building where hundreds of workers still remain trapped, and trying to undercount the deaths in the incident.
Addressing the rally in front of the BGMEA Bhaban, Battala organiser and assistant professor of Sociology Department at Dhaka University Samina Lutfa said, “Why should the government show alibis in favour of the killers? Why is the hide-and-seek in revealing the exact number of deaths?”
Noting that the workers were forced to enter the collapsing building on Wednesday, Samina said all workers were killed and injured only for the owners’ one-day’s profit.
Abu Zubaer, a young writer, said, “We see a new kind of fundamentalism arising before our eyes – the profit-fundamentalism. Killings of workers at Tazreen, Smart or Rana Plaza have become the inevitable outcome of the profit motif of the owners.”
Dhaka University Shikkharti Odhikar Manch organiser Sadman Sakib said Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) is the body that must be held responsible for the systemic killing of workers.
“The BGMEA has failed to control the irregularities of the RMG owners, rather BGMEA is an organisation to protect the profit-mongers,” he said. UNB
