The government has allocated Tk 1.69 billion to pay up the jute-mill workers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The finance ministry on Monday allotted the amount, which will be deposited to the workers’ personal bank accounts through cheques, the Ministry of Textiles and Jute said in a statement.
The fund will go towards the payment of wages and Eid bonuses in the form of an ‘operating loan’, according to the statement.
Some 80,000 workers of the 27 state-run jute mills in Dhaka, Chattogram, and Khulna took to the streets from May 6 as they claimed that they have not been paid for long.
They abstained from work, blocked roads and railways in different places of the country for better wages and arrears.
Assigning the fund, the finance ministry said in a letter, “The money must be repaid in instalments every six months at an interest rate of 5 percent over the next 20 years. The BJMC must execute a loan agreement with the Finance Division to that end.”
The fund must only be used to clear the wages in arrear and festival allowances of workers, the letter added.
Source: Bdnews24.