Outsourcing workers employed in different projects of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and other departments blocked Shahbagh intersection in the capital on Saturday, demanding regularisation of their jobs.
The aggrieved workers under the banner of the LGED Oikya Parishad started gathering at Shahbagh around 9:00 am with banners and festoons in their hands, and continued the blockade programme till afternoon.
They blocked all the roads from the Hotel Intercontinental to Dhaka University and Paltan Press Club, causing severe traffic congestion in the surrounding areas of the capital much to the sufferings of the commuters.
Many were forced to get down from vehicles and walk on foot to reach their destinations due to the blockade. Abdur Rakib Sonet, a coordinator of the action programme, said that outsourcing workers have been serving at different government offices with sincerely and diligently under the 2018 Outsourcing Policy.
Mentioning that the outsourcing policy causes financial harm to both the workers and the government, he said that outsourcing workers are being deprived of regular payment of wages and other service benefits.
“The outsourcing contractors are siphoning off millions of taka in the name of recruiting workers in different offices,” he added.
The protesting workers demanded the cancellation of the outsourcing policy and also urged the government to regularise the jobs of the outsourcing workers.
Delwar Hossain, another coordinator, said, “The amount of money currently being paid to contractors could be saved if the outsourcing practice is stopped.”
