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). The dues payment activities started in a program organized by DEPZ where Tk. 18.11 crore arrears were paid to the workers recently.
Arrears of some workers were paid through pay orders in the program. DEPZ Executive Director Abdus Sobhan handed over the pay order to them. The remaining workers’ arrears were deposited to their bank accounts.
The workers were overwhelmed to receive their arrears though it is almost two and half years since the closure of the factory. They thanked BEPZA wholeheartedly for their continuous efforts to settle the dues payment.
Mentionable, the factory management announced the closure of the factory in February 2020 due to lack of export orders and failure to pay the wages of the workers. BEPZA terminated the land lease agreement with the factory on 18 April 2020 due to the failure of paying the wages on time and assured that it would make arrangements to pay all the dues of the workers. 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 dues of the workers by selling the factory through an auction.
BEPZA is always committed to protecting the legal rights of workers and paying their dues fairly. It is to be noted that earlier BEPZA made arrangements to pay the arrears to the workers of a closed factory of Chattogram EPZ, one of Adamjee ?EPZ, and one closed factory of Ishwardi EPZ.