More than 200 garment manufacturing units in Bangladesh are in poor condition and they need to be relocated to outskirts of Dhaka and Chittagong, an all-party legislative committee has said.
Around 200-250 readymade garment (RMG) units are in feeble condition and they need to be pulled down to safeguard the industry, Mr. Tipu Munshi, a member of the standing committee and a garment entrepreneur told media on the sidelines of a discussion on safety standards for RMG units.
According to a Dhaka Tribune report, the standing committee’s recommendations have come ahead of the Government taskforce report constituted to review the RMG safety standards following last year’s Tazreen fire incidence, which claimed 111 lives.
Mr. Munshi noted that around one-fifth of the 5,000 RMG units currently functional in Bangladesh, operate in residential houses, while about 2,500 units share their premises with other industrial establishments, just like Savar’s Rana Plaza, which collapsed last month.
Collapse of this factory on April 24, where 1,100 workers lost their lives, further instigated the deliberations on the need for betterment of working standards. However, the Government is still awaiting the taskforce’s report, he said.
He said all standing committee members have observed that the Rana Plaza incident has severely impacted the country’s image as a garment producer, and if immediate steps are not taken to safeguard the industry, it may lead to closure of several units for want of orders, both from home and abroad, rendering millions of workers jobless.
He added that all committee members have unanimously concluded that there is a need relocation of RMG units to better premises and environs in the outskirts of Dhaka and Chittagong.
He noted that around 30 percent of the factories have already relocated to Ashulia and Savar, and urged the Government to provide gas and electricity connections to the factories that have shifted to these areas.
