A deaf ear to long-standing demands, including ensuring hygienic accommodation, pay hike, payment of arrears, and a 30-minute break for iftar infuriated the workers of SS Power I Limited at Banshkhali in Chattogram, triggering the recent violence at the power plant.
Live bullets rained down on the protesters at the power plant leaving five people dead and dozens injured in the violence on Saturday.
Grievances among the workers were boiling over the past few months and it took the shape of a violent protest Saturday after some local people joined with them.
A daily basis worker, who identified himself as Shahadat Hossain told The Business Post that one could not even imagine under what conditions the workers were forced to live.
“We are forced to drink polluted water instead of pure drinking water and use the unhygienic toilets which often overflow with human feces,” he said.
“We are demanding wage hike over the few months but authorities didn’t pay heed to our demand, which aggrieved the workers. Our wages are so poor that we can’t afford anything anymore in Ramadan as prices of essential commodities shoot up,” he said.
He said misbehaviour of Chinese staff with workers became everyday affairs and penalty for silly mistakes, including cutting of wages, was quite rampant and it fuelled discontent among the majority of the workers.
Another worker from Gaibandha wishing not to be named said, “Problems in basic amenities and accommodation aggrieved the workers. Nonpayment of several months’ arrears and authorities’ indifference to the repeated calls to hike monthly payment also added fuel to the fire.”
He chose to remain unnamed fearing repercussion from the authorities. He said, “People of Chinese contractor Zen Zejan forced us to work on Friday which Muslims consider a holiday. Zen Zejan has the habit of penalising workers with wage deduction and force them to work for a long hour and it infuriated the workers.”
Zen could not be reached for comments.
The 1320-Megawatt capacity, coal-fired power plant, owned by S Alam Group Ltd at Gandamara union of Banskhali, Chattogram faced bloody incidents of violence since its construction works began. Ten people have already been killed there between 2016 and 2021.
The first violent clash broke out in 2016 against the move of land acquisition leaving four people dead and scores injured.
In another bloody incident in 2017, a person was killed centring a move of reconciliation between two groups as one group was supporting the construction of the power plant while another group was opposing it.
After Saturday’s deadly violence, two cases — one by sub-inspector of Banshkhali police station Md Rashed and another one by the chief coordinator of the power plant Faruk Ahmed – were recorded against a staggering number of 3,562 people with the Banshkhali police station.
The police in their case accused 2,500 unidentified persons of attacking law enforcers while the power plant authorities accused 22 named and 1,040 unnamed persons of carrying out arson attacks.
Ain O Salish Kendra, a leading rights organisation, on Sunday asked the government to take appropriate action against those involved with killing and injuring workers of the SS Power I Limited and compensating the families of dead workers with Tk 3 crore and Tk 2 core to the families of injured workers.
The S Alam Group, one of the country's leading business conglomerates, is constructing a 1,224-megawatt coal-fired power plant in at Banshkhali in Chattogram with the joint investment. S Alam Group has 70 per cent stake in the power plant while SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation and HTG Development Group have 20 per cent and 10 per cent stakes respectively.
Failing to supply the electricity to the national grid, by November 16, 2019, S Alam Group suffered a penalty of Tk 200 crore by Bangladesh Power Development Board.
After three years of extension, this power plant is supposed to supply electricity to the national grid by 2022.
The joint venture company comprising local S Alam Group and two Chinese firms had inked power purchase agreement and implementation agreement with state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd in February 16, 2016
The BPDB had provided the letter of intent to the JVC to set up the project on October 31, 2013.
The BPDB and the PGCB inked deals with S Alam Group to implement the project under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act 2010 in an unsolicited deal.
Plant manager Faruk Ahmed outright rejected the allegations of keeping workers in unhealthy condition and scarcity of minimum civic facilities at the workers’ accommodation.
"There are over a thousand workers work in the power plant and we tried our best to keep them in healthy conditions. We received some complaints and the process was on to sort out the problems but workers chose the path of violent protest being provoked by vested interest groups,” he said.
Commenting on the slow pace of construction of the power plant, a high official of BPDB, preferring anonymity, said that they were keeping track of the progress of the construction of this power plant.
"Death of workers is sad and we urged the plant authority to ensure better living and other facilities" he added.
Khaled Mahmood, chairman of BPBD, refused to comment on the latest development involving the coal-fired power plant.
