Dhaka-Tangail highway blocked for 2 hrs; most garment units closed for Monday; police suspect fire incident as preplanned, filed case against anonymous miscreants
Fire brigade officials on Monday searching the factory where a fire breaks out in Ashulia Saturday evening.
The death toll from Ashulia readymade garment factory fire rose to 111 on Monday, two days after the incident.Meanwhile, several thousand garment workers staged a rowdy protest in Ashulia on Monday morning demanding punishment of the people responsible for Saturday's fire.
Vehicular movements on the Dhaka-Tangail highway remained suspended for two hours since the morning following their demonstration, witnesses said.
In the meantime, police suspected that the fire incident was a premeditated one.
Some unidentified criminals might set fire to the factory in a pre-planned way and that's why police filed a case against several unknown persons, said Badrul Alam Sheikh, officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station.
In the wake of the situation, most of the garment units in Ashulia zone have been declared closed for Monday to avoid any untoward incident, police sources said.
Khairul Islam, a sub-inspector of Ashulia police, filed the case Sunday night, the OC said.
"As part of investigation, we have already started collecting samples and taking deposition from the witnesses," he added.
The culprits will be arrested and charge-sheeted if police get any evidence of sabotage, the OC added.
Witnesses said thousands of workers of the fire-ravaged Tazreen Fashion Ltd and its nearby factories took to the streets around 9:30am.
They also blocked roads in Jamgarah, Narsinghapur, Nischintapur and Jirabo areas, halting transport movement, an official of Tazreen Fashion Ltd said.
Later, they withdrew the barricades around 11:30am.
Additional contingent of police have been deployed in and around the area to avert any untoward incident.
The workers on Monday said they wanted to know the exact death toll in the fire that raged through the garment factory at Nischintapur near Dhaka Export Processing Zone in Ashulia on Saturday evening.
The fire came under control around 5:55am Sunday.
On Saturday night, nine deaths were recorded while on Sunday 102 more bodies were found.
Firemen called off their operation in the afternoon of Sunday.
In the night of Saturday police, fire-fighters and witnesses said those killed in the incident did not suffer burns, but they died after jumping off different floors of the eight-storey Tazreen Fashion Ltd at Nischintapur in a bid to escape the blaze that started on the ground floor around 6:50pm.
The charred bodies of 102 workers were found inside the building after the fire was extinguished on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Siddiqur Rahman, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told The Daily Star that the BGMEA will provide Tk one lakh to each of the victim's family.
Delowar Hossain, managing director of the factory, said around 300 workers were inside the building during when the fire broke out Saturday evening.
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