Around 81 readymade garment factories were in different stages of closure due to safety reasons even as 790 factories have been shut down so far following inspections under the supervision of Jatiya Udyog, Accord and Alliance, and many other reasons. This was reportedly stated by Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed in the Parliament recently.
“In all, 39 factories have been shut down fully and 42 partially because of lack of safety,” reportedly maintained Tofail while replying to a query from Kurigram-3 MP, AKM Mayeedul Islam, during a question-answer session. He further underlined that at present there are 5,190 garment factories in the country, 4,834 of which are export-oriented.
Tofail also said that Bangladesh had earned US $ 25.49 billion from exports of readymade garments in the 2014-15 fiscal year and US $ 23.76 billion in the first 11 months of the current FY.
Also Read – ‘Bangladesh-EU Joint Business Council’ set to be launched, says Tofail Ahmed
It may be mentioned here that following the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 23, 2013, that claimed 1,100 lives, safety in RMG factories became a matter of concern in Bangladesh. Even the global apparel brands came in for criticism for reportedly purchasing low-cost garments from the country while failing to take workers’ safety into account.This led the brands to form two forums – Accord and Alliance – to improve the working environment in Bangladesh’s apparel manufacturing factories.
