Govt transfers 15 employees of Ctg port to Mongla, Payra amid protest against foreign contract

The government has transferred 15 employees of Chattogram sea port to others sea ports for "disciplining them" amid their work boycott movement against the authority’s decision to lease out a terminal of the port to a foreign company.

The Ministry of Shipping issued an order in this regard on Monday. The ministry’s Assistant Secretary Md Belayet Hossain signed the order, stating the 15 employees have been transferred to Mongla port and Payra port due to “official requirements.”

The transferred employees include two protest leaders, both of whom are members of Jatiyatabadi Bandar Sramik Dal – BNP’s labour wing at Chattogram port.

Bandar Sramik Dal members Md Humayun Kabir, and Md Ibrahim Khokon were previously instructed to withdraw from their current positions at Chattogram port and join new duties at the Kamalapur Inland Container Terminal and Keraniganj’s Pangaon Inland Container Terminal.

The move was aimed at “disciplining them,” but they ignored the order. Now, the ministry has transferred them to two seaports, ensuring consistency with their current working environment.

Humayun Kabir, Ibrahim Khokon and others observed eight-hour work abstention for the third straight day on Monday in protest against the government’s decision to hand over the control of Chattogram port’s New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to UAE’s DP World under a contract.

The group has called 24-hour work boycott on Tuesday.