Clash at Al-Arafah Bank leaves 15 injured

Staff Reporter :

At least 15 people were injured in an attack by the sacked employees on the head office of Al-Arafah Islami Bank at Dainik Bangla intersection in the capital on Thursday.

More than a hundred sacked employees have been staying in front of the bank’s head office for six consecutive days.

The incident had practically brought to a standstill the overall activities at the head office.

According to bank sources, the sacked employees started a human chain and sit-in program at the entrance of the head office on July 28. Bank employees are being prevented from entering the office. Many employees have also complained of use of force.

The protesters say were dismissed from jobs without any notice. They are staging a peaceful protest against their unfair dismissal.

They have announced that they will continue the protest until they get their jobs back. However, the bank authorities are saying otherwise.

A senior official of the Human Resources Department said that as per the instructions of Bangladesh Bank, an evaluation test was conducted for 1,414 employees.

Of them, 547 were terminated as they could not pass the test. They were originally appointed by the previous board of directors, against whom there are allegations of irregularities in the appointment.

The Bangladesh Bank investigation report revealed evidence of widespread corruption in the appointment process at Al-Arafah Islami Bank during the control of the S Alam Group.

According to bank sources, many of the protesters joined the movement here after being fired from other institutions of the S Alam Group. There have even been allegations of accommodation and financial support from the Galco office behind the movement.