Sardar Rakib Uddin Naki Mollah, a leader of Benapole land port workers union was tied up with an electric pole in Benapole of Jashore on Monday for embezzling Tk 1.32 crore from the workers.
The agitated workers caught Rakib Uddin Naki Mollah and tied him to an electric pole on the side of the road and stopped all the activities of the port.
Ordinary workers tied him up in front of the 891 Handling Workers Union offices in Benapole port and kept him stranded for one hour. Upon receiving the news, influential local workers and Awami League leaders released him on a contract of paying Tk. 70 lakh.
The accused Naki Mollah is the organizing secretary of Awami League in Baroachra ward of Benapole municipality and the group leader of 691 port workers' union in the port.
General worker Abdur Rashid said, “Rakib Uddin Naki Mollah has embezzled TK. 1 crore 32 lakh. He was cheating again and again. Finally today the workers tied him up beside the road to collect the money.
Later, some local influential labor leaders and local Awami League leaders, negotiated and a settlement was reached for Tk 70 lakh”. Noki bought a cattle farm, four trucks and huge land with the embezzled money without paying our dues.
Workers have long been victims of exploitation and deprivation through influential labor leaders. If you protest, you lose your job. Although the fate of the labor leaders has changed, those who earn money by shedding blood have not changed at all. They have to remain poor all through.
Khalilur Rahman, vice-president of the 891 workers' union at the Benapole land port, said local Awami League leaders had held three rounds of meetings and released Naki Mollah, promising to pay Tk. 70 lakh.
