Ariful Islam Sujan, a worker at Kabir Steel Ship Breaking Yard, died on the spot after falling from an iron sheet while working on January 31. A meeting was held at the temporary office of Ship breaking Workers Trade Union Forum at Enayet Bazar on Thursday in protest of the accident.
Leaders at the protest rally said that despite repeated accidents in the ship-breaking industry, the owners and the government are indifferent. In 2021 alone, 13 workers died in accidents in this industry. In the last three years, 46 workers have died in accidents and hundreds more have been injured.
The death of Ariful Islam Sujan at Kabir Steel Ship Breaking Yard on January 31 proved that the owners and the concerned parties of the government have failed to provide security to the workers of ship breaking industry, they added. The leaders said that the police inquest report stated that the unfortunate worker had fallen from a high place and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
However, reports in various newspapers show that the Deputy Inspector General of the Department of Inspection of Chittagong Factories and Establishments, Abdullah Shakib Mubarrat, had mentioned to the journalists that the diseased worker was sick and vomited. The worker slipped and fell in the vomit and was later taken to the hospital where the on-duty doctor declared him dead.
Such a statement by Abdullah Shakib Mubarrat is in complete conflict with the police inquest report and an evil attempt to conceal the real truth, said the protesters. They said that Abdullah Shakib Mubarrat's statement was similar to the statement made by the owner to cover up the accident if a worker was killed in an accident in the ship breaking industry which is very unfortunate. The meeting was of the view that such biased statements and misrepresentations by a government official would hinder the creation of a safe working environment in the ship breaking industry.
At the meeting, the shipbreaking workers' trade union forum strongly protested and condemned such heinous acts and also formed a strong high level investigation committee under the supervision of the head office of the factory and establishment inspection department.
The meeting demanded compensation of at least Tk 20 lakh to the family of the deceased as loss of year earnings in accordance with ILO Convention 121.
The event was chaired by Safar Ali, joint convener of the forum and co-president of the National Workers League. Nurullah Bahar, Forum Treasurer, Rizwanur Rahman Khan, Bangladesh Mukto Sromik Federation, Fazlul Kabir Mintu, Bangladesh Trade Union Center Central Organizer, BFTUC Chittagong District General Secretary K. M Shahidullah and other labor leaders were present on the occasion.
