5 killed in Bangladesh after police open fire at Chinese joint venture

The workers had been protesting against the authorities since Friday over non-payment of dues and flexibility in work hours to let them perform Islamic rituals during the month of Ramzan.

Published on: Apr 17, 2021, 20:46:37 IST

By Shishir Gupta

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At least five people were killed and several others left injured in a clash between police and workers on Saturday at a Chinese joint venture coal-fired plant in Banshkhali of Bangladesh's Chittagong region, said police. The workers had been protesting against the authorities since Friday over non-payment of dues and flexibility in work hours to let them perform Islamic rituals during the month of Ramzan.

While four people died on the spot, one succumbed to his injuries after he was admitted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital. (Facebook/Ansur Ali)

The eyewitnesses said that a Chinese supervisor even kicked the workers who were offering Namaz the previous day. The agitated workers attacked the power plant when a meeting between their leaders and the management failed to resolve the crisis. According to the eyewitnesses, the workers set a fire inside the power plant.

Chittagong Range Deputy Inspector General Anwar Hossain said that police were attacked when they tried to intervene, compelling them to open fire on the workers. Banshkhali Police Station OC (investigation) Azizul Islam confirmed that five people died in the clash, adding that six police personnel were also injured. While four people died on the spot, one succumbed to injuries after he was admitted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital.

The five dead workers have been identified as Rony Hossain, Mohammad Rahat, Shuvo, Mahmud Reza, and Raihan.

The under-construction power plant in Banshkhali has been marred with controversy ever since the S. Alam Group, a leading Bangladeshi industrial conglomerate, signed a joint venture agreement with two Chinese companies for the 1224 MW power project. The Chinese companies are working as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors for the plant.

In 2016, four people lost their lives during a clash after locals protested against S. Alam Group’s acquisition of land in the West Boroghona area for plant’s construction. The S. Alam Group paid a penalty of 2 billion Takas to keep the controversial project alive. The plant was scheduled to start supplying electricity to the national grid from November 2019 but controversies surrounding the project have jeopardised the progress.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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