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Hundreds of larboard workers staged a wide hunger onslaught connected Saturday (November 1, 2025) to protestation the interim government's determination to lease retired Bangladesh’s main commercialized seaport successful southeastern Chattogram to overseas operators, amid a volatile governmental scenery up of the February elections.
"The determination has been taken against the nationalist interest. This determination volition not beryllium accepted nether immoderate circumstances," Anwar Hossain, person of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), an apex assemblage of idiosyncratic unions, told the rally astatine the larboard city.
The token hunger strike, joined by activists from assorted workers' and governmental organisations, came a period aft the larboard workers began protests against Professor Muhammad Yunus’ program to lease retired the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to UAE-based relation DP World.
The protestors said the NCT astatine Chattogram larboard — Bangladesh’s main commercialized gateway — was built with “domestic funds and modern technology” portion it emerged arsenic the country’s “most palmy instrumentality terminal”.
Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter and relies heavy connected Chattogram larboard for astir of its imports and exports.
Soon aft assuming powerfulness aft past year’s convulsive thoroughfare run that toppled past premier curate Sheikh Hasina’s government, Mr. Yunus insisted the installation — strategically located connected the Bay of Bengal — should beryllium handed implicit to the “best relation successful the world”.
His insistence sparked contiguous reactions among information experts and protests successful the governmental arena, which faded from nationalist absorption amid consequent governmental turmoil.
However, it resurfaced successful September erstwhile Yunus said Bangladesh ne'er explored the afloat imaginable of the Bay of Bengal, though it was “an integral portion of our country” and expressed his government’s tendency to upgrade ports astatine southwestern Cox's Bazar, Matarbari, and Maheshkhali.
“These ports tin foster a determination system and fortify economical ties with Nepal, Bhutan, and the 'Seven Sisters' (of India), benefiting each parties," he said astatine the ceremonial signing of the July Charter.
Bangladesh Ocean Going Ship Owners' Association (BOGSOA) Chairman Azam J. Chowdhury earlier said, "It makes nary consciousness to lease the terminals that we developed and person been operating for the past 40 years".
SKOP person and erstwhile Chattogram larboard wide caput Kazi Sheikh Nurullah Bahar said astatine the objection that the authorities indispensable support nationalist assets alternatively than lease oregon merchantability them. Mr. Bahar besides urged Mr. Yunus to guarantee a escaped and just transportation of powerfulness done polls.
The protestation was staged, defying a constabulary prohibition against rallies oregon thoroughfare marches by the larboard workers, portion the SKOP leaders said the hunger onslaught was the archetypal measurement against the authorities decision.
They warned of coordinated labour actions, including sustained enactment stoppages and blockade of larboard operations, if the authorities failed to discard the plan.
The state-run BSS quality bureau said DP World expressed involvement successful operating the port's New Mooring Container Terminal, and Danish shipping elephantine AP Moller-Maersk expressed tendency successful the Laldia Container Terminal connected the outskirts of the larboard city.
The Shipping ministry’s elder caput Mohammed Yousuf said that "agreements are expected to beryllium signed by December" betwixt the overseas relation and the interim government.
On October 12, the authoritative said 2 much terminals — Laldia, besides successful Chattogram, and the stream larboard of Pangaon successful Dhaka — would besides beryllium leased to overseas companies for 25 to 30 years.
Mr. Yunus earlier said his authorities would connection the instrumentality handling task to "best" and “most experienced” planetary larboard operators to crook the larboard into a world-class facility. Several information experts feared the determination mightiness yet endanger Bangladesh’s sovereignty.
“I impulse the countrymen not to let themselves to beryllium the victims of baseless absorption and propaganda. Continue your beardown enactment for the interim government’s larboard absorption move. Resist those who reason it,” Mr. Yunus told a nationwide tv code successful June this year.
In the aforesaid address, Mr. Yunus said, “The radical we are bringing successful to negociate the larboard person not threatened the sovereignty oregon nationalist information of immoderate state they’ve worked in”.
The Chattogram Port handles implicit 90% of Bangladesh's maritime commercialized and astir each of its instrumentality traffic.
