#Title

99.8pc say they’re not Covid-infected
FROM PAGE 1
at their workplaces.
MJF Programme Manager Shoma Datta, shared the findings of the study, conducted between March and June this year, at a virtual meeting jointly organised by the MJF and The Daily Star.
Tanjim Ferdous, a national consultant of the United Nations in Bangladesh, moderated the meeting.
While presenting the findings, Shoma said 85.5 percent of the respondents said their factories resumed operations while some 67.44 percent said they feel the threat of job loss.
About sexual harassment amid the pandemic, 31.8 percent of the female workers said they were subjected to sexual harassment at workplaces, while 47.6 percent said the supervisors used abusive language if they failed to meet the target. Only 32.9 percent of the victims lodged complaints and just 7.4 percent got remedy, the study said.
Shaheen Anam, executive director of the MJF, said the study does not give a complete picture of the entire garment sector, rather a part of it. The study was conducted on a limited scale.
“We want the sector to thrive, and at the same time we want improvement in the workers’ living standards,” she noted.
Addressing the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said the government has rolled out stimulus packages so that the garment sector remains unaffected by the pandemic.
“We want to work together with all the stakeholders...”
The minister also mentioned that Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is conducting a study to know the socio-economic status of people, including the garment workers, amid the pandemic.
At the virtual meeting, Jasmin Shila, former operator at a garment factory, said she and her family have been going through a tough time since she and her husband lost their jobs.
She contacted some factories for a job but couldn’t find any as all the factories had sufficient manpower.
Nazma Akter, executive director of Awaj Foundation, said that when the owners started shutting factories in big numbers in late March, many workers lost jobs.
Later, many of those who still had jobs didn’t return to their workplaces though international retailers and brands reinstated a significant number of work orders for local apparel manufacturers, she noted.
Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, said the importance of the garment sector is immense as more than four crore people are directly or indirectly involved in the sector which accounts for 84 percent of the country’s annual exports.
Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, suggested creating a database of retrenched workers so that they can be given jobs in factories when normalcy returns in business activities.
About the measures to protect workers from Covid-19, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said those were not adequate to keep the workers safe from virus infections.
George Faller, chief technical adviser of the ILO’s RMG Programme, said “Throughout, the ILO has been working with the government of Bangladesh in preparing several Covid-19 guidelines and training on workplace safety and health and labour relations.”
Banasree Mitra Neogi, gender adviser to the MJF, said female workers must be protected by applying legal measures at workplaces.
The survey found that the majority of the respondents reduced food intake, started depending on loans and felt job insecurity and mental pressure, added Banasree.
SM Shahed Hossain, human resources manager at the Chattogram-based Cliffton Textiles, said his factory was shut for one month between March and April this year because of the pandemic. But none of the workers was terminated.

2 Rohingyas killed in gunfight in Kutupalong
Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar
Two Rohingyas were killed in a reported gunfight between two rival groups in a camps in Ukhia of Cox’s Bazar early yesterday.
The gunfight erupted between two groups of Rohingya “criminals” over “establishing supremacy in the area”, said Samsuddoza Nayan, additional repatriation, rehabilitation, and relief officer of the government.
The deceased were identified as Imam Sharif, 32, and Shamsul Alam, 40, residents of Kutupalong refugee camp in the upazila, our Cox’s Bazar correspondent reports. They had bullet wounds in their bodies.
The violence began at the Refugee Camp-2 West around 1:00am and continued until 5:00am.
Law enforcers did not reveal the identity of those involved in gunfight.
The bodies were recovered and sent to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, said Ahmad Sanjur Morshed, officer-in-charge of Ukhia Police Station.
No case was filed in this connection.
Meanwhile, there was another “gunfight” around 8:30am in Refugee Camp-3 of Kutupalong between alleged Rohingya criminals, said Hafez Jalal Ahmed, chairman of Kutupalong Rohingya Registrar camp.
At least 15 Rohingyas were injured and seven houses were burned during the incident, sources at the camp said.
The injured were taken to different hospitals including Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, they said. None of them had bullet injuries.