Bangladeshi and Chinese power plant workers clash over salaries in Dhankhali; 15 injured

At least 15 workers and security guards were wounded as clashes broke out between the Bangladeshi and Chinese employees at the construction site of the Rural Power Company Limited’s 1,320 MW power plant, located in Dhankhali area Kalapara sub-unit of Patuakhali district, according to The New Age newspaper. The brawl broke out over grievances related to the salaries and other monthly allowances. The fight started at the construction site of the plant situated in south-central Bangladesh which is being developed to generate coal-based heat electricity for the Bangladeshi population.

During the altercation, the power plant’s office and several vehicles were also damaged, the Dhaka-based leading English language daily newspaper said. 

Four Bangladeshi workers were injured

According to the statement by the Kalapara police, the area's district sub-unit officer responded to the incident and attempted to bring the situation under control. Police were called at the scene and were deployed to maintain the law and order situation, The New Age reported. As many as four Bangladeshi workers were injured. They were identified as Obaidul, Shaheen Molla, Rakibul Islam and Zidan. Those wounded were rushed to the Kalapara sub-unit health complex for medical treatment. They were later moved to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital. 

The protesters at the scene told the paper that the workers were demonstrating against the working conditions and the wages. There was an uninformed deduction of the salaries of the employees, they added. This was done by the company "in the name of service charges," the workers informed, adding that it has been several weeks that they had been complaining about the decorations. Eventually, they decided to stage a protest. Kalapara police station officer-in-charge Ali Ahmed told the paper that the situation was contained, and that he has ordered more police personnel to be deployed at the site. "Legal action will be taken if any written complaint is filed," the officer-in-charge Ahmed stressed. 

"We started protesting as the authorities did not accept our demand, which led to a clash,” one of the workers who was involved in the clashes, and was hospitalised, said. 

The project director and chief engineer of RPCL power plant Tawfiq Islam said that the situation was under control and that he held. the talks with the workers who were protesting. "The situation is under control with the immediate strict action taken by the local administration," he said, according to the statement published by the paper.  “We are trying to talk to the workers to resolve the issue,” the project director and chief engineer Islam said, The New Age reported.