DHAKA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government Sunday formed a committee to probe Saturday's violent clashes between police and workers of an apparel factory that left two people dead and scores of others injured, the country's Home Minister said.
The decision on forming the five-member probe committee, led by a senior Labor Ministry official, was made in a tripartite meeting of the government, the garment owners and the workers.
After the meeting Sunday, the South Asian country's Home Minister Sahara Khatun told reporters, "The probe committee has been asked to submit its findings within 15 days."
Nearly several hundreds of workers of the Nippon Garment Factory in Tongi, on the outskirts of capital Dhaka, went berserk Saturday over unpaid dues while set ablaze few vehicles, according to the report.
The workers said they had three months' salaries outstanding with the garment factory and the management had said they would be paid on Saturday, according to local media reports.
However, the workers found the factory was shut down overnight with a notice hanging at the gate which stated that the factory would remain closed due to global economic depression from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29.
Although the workers said non-payment of salaries triggered the clash but the country's apex body of apparel manufacturers claimed that there are hands of vested quarters to fuel the unrest to stem the growth of Bangladesh's apparel industry.
President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Abdus Salam Murshedy in a press conference on Saturday said, "This is sabotage to destabilize the industry before two mega expositions in the city this week."
The BGMEA and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association are organizing two annual expositions to showcase their products on Sunday and Monday.
However, Home Minister Sunday also said it was decided during the meeting that the workers of the factory will receive their dues on Nov. 10.
The Home Ministry convened the meeting as the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Saturday reportedly instructed the ministry to take appropriate action against the apparel owner if it is found responsible for non-payment of salaries to workers.
Meanwhile, the chief of local Tongi Police Station Tapan Chandra Saha told Xinhua Sunday that police filed a case after the Saturday 's clashes with Tongi police station.
He said, "The case has been filed against some 2,000-3,000 unidentified people on charges of arson, vandalism, and obstructing police in performing their duties during the clash."
Local media reports said some 1,500 law enforcers were deployed on Sunday in the violence-ravaged Tongi and other industrial areas to thwart any unpleasant incident following Saturday's unrest.
Industrial unrest in Bangladesh's promising export-oriented apparel sector, which earned nearly 80 percent of the country's total 15.56 billion U.S. dollars exports in 2008-09 fiscal year (July 2008-June 2009), is almost common as the workers stage frequent protests to realize their pay and other financial benefits from their owners.
The country has around 4,500 textile factories which employ over 3 million workers. The minimum monthly wage of a garment worker is around 1,662 taka (about 24 U.S. dollars) a month.
