Contractual workers block Shahbagh for 7hrs

Contractual employees of government institutions blocked the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka for more than seven hours yesterday, demanding nationalisation of their jobs.
The protest, which began around 10:00am, severely disrupted traffic in the surrounding areas, causing congestion and suffering to the commuters, especially BSMMU-bound patients.
Around 4:00pm, a seven-member representative team went to the chief adviser’s residence and met some officials there.
They returned to Shahbagh and announced that they gave a 15-day time to meet their demands, and if the demands are not met by then, they will wage tougher movement.
The protesters left Shahbagh around 5:15pm.
According to witnesses, several hundred contractual employees from across the country arrived in Dhaka on buses in the early morning, and later they gathered in the Shahbagh area, chanting slogans to press their demands.
Additional police force was stationed nearby, but they were not seen taking any action to clear the road. Later, members of Army personnel also arrived at the scene.
“Our one-point demand is nationalisation of our jobs. We will continue our protest until our demand is met,” Sajib Rana, a sub-assistant engineer of LGED, told The Daily Star.
“All of a sudden, one day our employer may tell us that our job is no longer required. It cannot go on like this. We want security of our job,” he added.
“The salaries of employees in all other government and non-government sectors increase regularly, but not a single taka has been added to the wages of contractual employees even after serving five to 10 years. We cannot support our families like this,” said a ward boy at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura, who arrived in Dhaka to join the protest.
“We do not receive festival bonuses either. The government must nationalise our jobs to ensure fair treatment,” he said, preferring anonymity.
According to protesters, around eight lakh contractual employees work at different government offices across the country.