Food warehouse staff clash with fire fighters in Barisal

Four members of staff of Barisal Local Supply Depot (LSD) Food Warehouse have been injured during an altercation with local fire service officials on Monday afternoon.

The Barisal district administration has called a meeting between LSD and fire services in order to stop the incident from escalating further. Both sides have given different accounts of the scuffle.

LSD Food Warehouse in-Charge Nazrul Islam claimed some members of the fire services grew agitated when they were told to come back to the warehouse later due to shortage of manpower around 4pm.

At one stage, the fire service officials called their colleagues by mobile phone and proceeded to attack and ransack the LSD office, injuring two security officials as well as LSD Food Warehouse Deputy in-Charge Humaun Kabir and Assistant Deputy in-Charge Tapan Kumar Boidya.

On the other hand, Barisal fire station Senior Station Master Md Alauddin claimed staff members of the LSD Food Warehouse often harassed fire service officials when they went to collect their rations, and they were often given less grain than the quoted weight.

On Monday at 4pm, when fire service officials went to collect rations, food warehouse staff refused and told them to come back on a different day. Subsequently, an argument ensued over the denial of service and insufficient rations, with Food Warehouse staff eventually attacking the men from fire services.

Alauddin also alleged that LSD Food Warehouse officials ransacked their own office and injured staff members with the aim of shifting the blame for the incident.

Barisal Kotwali police station OC Asaduzzaman said police rushed to the location and brought the situation under control after being informed about the scuffle.

Neither side has filed had lodged an official complaint over the incident, he added.

Barisal Deputy Commissioner Ajiar Rahman confirmed that a meeting had been called between LSD and Fire Services, in order to stop the unfortunate incident from becoming more severe.

The meeting was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.