NEW DELHI: Safety at Bangladesh factories is again in the spotlight after 6 people were killed and dozens injured in the second factory fire in the South Asian country in two months. The labor movement in Bangladesh has called on the government to do more to ensure workers' safety is upheld and they are not exploited and put in situations that cost lives. A fire broke out on Saturday at a Smart Fashions factory in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, Al Jazeera reported. Firefighters and police had found six bodies when Bikyanews.com contacted the police force via telephone on Saturday evening. “Everything inside the factory has been gutted,” a Reuters photographer said. Reuters says that 10 injuries have been reported so far. It came only two months after a garment factory in the country went up in flames, leaving dozens of workers dead after they were stuck inside the building. Labor activists tell Bikyanews.com that “if things are not changed for workers in this country, we will begin to strike and protest to have our voices heard.” Last March, At least 150 people were injured in Bangladesh's northern Pabna district as garment factory workers clashed with police over demands for pay increases, officials said. The clashes erupted when police tried to disperse several hundred protesting workers from two garments factories, owned by Chinese investors, in the Iswardi Export Processing Zones, 125 kilometers north-west of the capital Dhaka. Police fired rubber bullets and teargas as the workers went on a rampage and the clashes continued for at least three hours halting production at the factories, said police officer Shamim Hossain. Seventy-five workers were detained for vandalism and obstructing police work, Hossain said. It showed that workers in the country would take action to have more rights. The workers said they had been asking the management to increase their wages to 150 taka (1.83 dollars) from 100 taka for making a sweater. BN
