The High Court has ordered the authorities concerned to pay compensation of Tk five lakh each to families of five slain workers who were shot dead at a coal-based power plant at Banshkhali in Chattogram.
The virtual HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir issued the order after holding hearing on two writ petitions simultaneously on Tuesday .
The two separate writ petitions were filed over judicial enquiry into the killing of the workers at SS Power I Plant, a coal-based power plant of the S Alam Group, and seeking the higher court’s directive to stop construction of power plant till completion of the inquiry and pay compensation.
The HC bench, however, issued a rule over judicial enquiry and asked the police and the local administration of Chattogram to submit their probe reports on the protection and safety system of the plant’s workers within 45 days.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian last week announced to pay compensation of Tk 2 lakh to the families of each victim who lost their lives at the power plant violence incident. Besides, she also announced to provide Tk 50,000 as treatment cost to each of the victims who sustained injuries in the incident.
Five young workers of the under-construction SS Power I Plant were shot dead and several others were injured during a clash between police and workers at Banshkhali upazila of Chattogram on April 17.
The deceased are Rony Hossain, 22, Ahmed Reza, 19, Shuvho, 23, Mohammad Rahat, 24, and Mohammad Raihan, 20.
Six rights-based organizations filed two writ petitions with the High Court. Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) filed one of writ petitions, while five other rights organizations filed another writ petition. The five organizations are Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Nijera Kori (NK), Safety and Rights Society, and Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD).
Advocate ZI Khan Panna, Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Advocate Syeda Nasreen moved in the court on behalf of the writ petitioners.
The writ petition of ASK sought compensation of Tk 3 crore to the families of the deceased, who were killed in the incident, and of Tk 2 crore to the families of the injured workers.
Advocate Syeda Nasreen, lawyer of ASK’s writ petition, said that they had also requested the court to order the government to take appropriate legal action against the perpetrators who were involved in the killing and injuring the unarmed workers.
On April 18, Advocate Syeda Nasrin on behalf of the ASK sent a legal notice to the Law Secretary, Home Secretary, Industries Secretary, Commerce Secretary and Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take necessary initiatives over the killing incident. On April 21, the ASK filed the writ petition for not getting any response of the notice, said Syeda Nasreen.
The five rights organizations filed their writ petition on April 30. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, lawyer for the petitioners and also the chief executive of BELA, said that they requested the court to conduct a judicial inquiry over the incident and stop the construction of the plant till the inquiry.
She said that a total of 12 workers were killed and several others were injured in different incidents at the power plant in Banshkhali in 2016, 2017 and April 17 in 2021. The government in 2018 decided to scrap the project as it was deemed unnecessary, she added.
