BEPZA pays Tk 18cr in arrears to DEPZ workers

Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) has paid the arrears of the workers of A-One (BD) Limited, a closed factory of Dhaka EPZ (DEPZ).

DEPZ organised the dues payment programme on Tuesday, where Tk 18.11 crore arrears were paid to the workers, said BEPZA in a statement.

Arrears of some workers were paid through pay orders in the programme. DEPZ Executive Director Abdus Sobhan handed over the pay order to them. The remaining workers’ arrears were deposited into their bank accounts.

The workers were overwhelmed to receive their arrears though it had been almost two and half years since the factory’s closure. They thanked BEPZA wholeheartedly for their continuous efforts to settle the dues payment.

Mentionable, the factory management announced the factory’s closure in February 2020 due to a lack of export orders and failure to pay the workers’ wages. BEPZA terminated the land lease agreement with the factory on April 18, 2020, due to the failure to pay the wages on time and assured that it would make arrangements to pay all the workers’ dues.

It may be mentioned that 1131 workers were working in the factory at the time of closure. After a long tireless effort of two and half years, BEPZA has been able to pay the workers’ dues by selling the factory through an auction.