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Beaten for demanding dues
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the workers under the direction of the factory authorities.
The workers just went to the factory to receive their wages on the day fixed by the authorities, which was yesterday, Billal said, adding that, instead of getting paid, the workers were beaten mercilessly.
“We also filed a written complaint with Dhaka Industrial Police-1 in this regard,” he added.
Contacted, Hossen Ali, a member of Savar’s Ashulia Union Parishad, denied the allegation of any involvement of his men in the incident.
Razon, manager (Administration) of Elain Appeals Ltd, also denied the allegation made by the workers.
“I do not know who attacked the workers. We informed them [the workers] that the dues will be paid on Tuesday as we did not go to the factory today [yesterday],” he said.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Jan-e-Alam Khan, assistant superintendent of police Dhaka Industrial Police-1, said, “It is unacceptable that outsiders will come and beat up workers. We are looking into the matter.”
Meanwhile, at least 1,000 workers of four factories in Savar and Ashulia yesterday demonstrated in front of the factories, demanding their salary for the month of March, according to workers’ organisations.
More than 50,000 workers of over 100 garment factories in Chattogram have also not been paid their salaries for March as yet.
Of the 100 factories, 35 are registered with the BGMEA, and 45,000 of the 50,000 workers are employed in those factories.
According to the BGMEA, Industrial Police, Chattogram EPZ and Karnafuli EPZ, more than five lakh workers are working in the 711 garment factories in Chattogram.
At least 100 garments factories have not paid the wages for March till yesterday, despite the labour ministry’s order to clear the wages within April 16.
MA Salam, first vice president of the BGMEA, told The Daily Star that a few factories failed to pay salaries because most of the European and American buyers cancelled or postponed their work orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Most of the factories will pay the salaries within this week and some may pay at the end of this month, BGMEA officials said, adding the factories that are not members of any organisation are more likely to be late with their payment.
According to the BGMEA, among the 324 of their registered factories in Chattogram, 299 factories have paid the wages for March to their workers by yesterday.
Bin Mesbah, general manager of KEPZ, told The Daily Star that only four factories of the KEPZ area had failed to pay their workers’ salary for March until yesterday.
“We contacted the top officials of those factories and they ensured us that they will pay all salaries by April 28,” he said.
Md Shahadat Hossain, deputy general manager of CEPZ, said, “We asked 13 factories to pay last month’s salaries to their workers within this month. Five of those made the payments today [yesterday]. The rest ensured us that they will pay their workers by April 28.”

Lockdown in 3 Madagascar cities set to ease
Afp, Antananarivo
The coronavirus lockdown imposed in Madagascar’s three main cities was to be progressively lifted from yesterday, President Andry Rajoelina said, adding that a Malgache “remedy” for the disease had been successfully tested.
“We are going to progressively re-establish normal life for the people and their means of subsistence,” Rajoelina said in a TV address late Sunday.
“We are going to start by doing for it for half a day, in the mornings from 6:00 am to 1:00 pm.”
The confinement measures apply to the capital Antananarivo, Fianarantsoa in the centre of the island, and Toamasina, in the east.
In a first step, public transport will resume in Antanararivo, and some school classes would begin on Wednesday, the president said.
However, people will not be allowed “to leave their city” and everyone will have to wear masks when they go out, or face being punished with community service, he said.
Madagascar has recorded 121 cases of coronavirus, but no fatalities.
Rajoelina in his speech also said that a “remedy” based on the plant artemisia, which he had put forward 10 days earlier as a potential treatment, had passed tests.
“Today, I officially announce the success and good results from the tests of our remedy,” he said.
“We can say that it provides a conclusive result for Covid-19 patients in Madagascar and can mitigate the impact on the human body.”
The president has previously made claims about herbal remedies despite scientific opinion that no cure for Covid-19 exists and that any experimental formula should be rigorously tested to see if it is safe and effective.
Rajoelina said his claimed remedy, named Covid-Organics and produced by the Malgache Institute of Applied Research (IMFA), would be prescribed in syrup form “to all school children, to help to protect themselves against the pandemic.”
The coronavirus outbreak has triggered a rush for herbal formulas, lemons and ginger in Madagascar in the belief that they can protect against the virus.
Rajoelina last month encouraged the use of alternative remedies as a way of “strengthening the antibodies” to coronavirus.
“We will make patients inhale ravintsara essential oils and provide them with high-calorie foods... in conjunction with medicine,” he said at the time.
Full details of the tests described by Rajoelina were not immediately available.
Artemisia also provides the active ingredient in artemisinin, a frontline treatment against malaria.
The UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) has urged scepticism over claimed cures for Covid-19.
Two other malaria drugs -- hydroxychloroquine and choloroquine -- are now being widely tested after US President Donald Trump backed their use.