A fire set by protesting workers at the Bigboss Corporation Ltd factory in Gazipur has been brought under control after 6.5 hours.
The waste dumping process is currently ongoing, and the factory is filled with smoke. It may take all night to complete the work
The fire was brought under control around 6pm on Wednesday through the efforts of the Fire Service.
According to the factory authorities, earlier, at around 11:30am, workers set fire to the factory's warehouse.
Police and eyewitnesses reported that the Beximco factory workers had been protesting and demonstrating since Wednesday morning, demanding overdue wages.
The agitated workers blocked the Kaliakair-Chandra-Nabinagar road and vandalized some nearby factories. At around 11:30am, a group of protesting workers set fire to the neighboring Bigboss Corporation Ltd factory.
At one point, they took up sticks and positioned themselves around the factory.
Upon receiving news of the incident, two units of the fire service headed to the scene but faced resistance from the protesting workers.
During this time, one of the fire service vehicles was also vandalized. With the arrival of the army, the firefighters began their operations to control the fire.
Ahad Bin Jahid, HR head at Bigboss Corporation Ltd, said that the Beximco factory workers had been protesting since morning, demanding payment of wages. The protesters attacked and vandalized our factory, along with several others. Eventually, they set fire to our warehouse where we had valuable fabrics and other goods stored.
Gazipur fire service Deputy Assistant Director Abdullah Al Arefin said: “After receiving the report, two units of the fire service went to the scene. There, the protesting workers vandalized one of the fire service vehicles. Later, with the assistance of the army, we started controlling the fire, and by 6pm, the fire was under control.”
At the moment, there is a lot of smoke coming out of the factory, and the fire service personnel are working on dumping it. It is anticipated that it will take all night to finish. The extent of the damage will be assessed after the dumping is complete.
Kashimpur police station Inspector (Investigation) Mohiuddin Ahmed said that the protesting workers from the Beximco Group attacked and vandalized other nearby factories to shut them down. During that time, some unruly workers overly enthusiastically set fire to the Bigboss factory.