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BGMEA gives govt a week to arrest arsonists

Standard Group seeks govt support to make a comeback

Star Business Report
The apex trade body for garment manufacturers yesterday gave the government a week to arrest the masterminds behind the sabotage of Standard Group factory complex in Gazipur.
"The attackers responsible for the fire have to be identified and brought to justice within seven days," Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told reporters after an emergency meeting with leaders of all garment sector related associations.
The meeting condemned Friday's arson attack on Standard Group's factory compound in Konabari of Gazipur, which burnt valuables worth Tk 1,200 crore.
The garment leaders also urged the government and other stakeholders, including banks and insurance companies, to come forward to help rehabilitate the units, where 19,000 workers are employed.
Islam said the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) would do everything to help the reputed garment exporter recover from the setback.
The leaders also harshly criticised the major political parties for their failure to find an answer to the ongoing countrywide violence, which gave the attackers a chance to execute their plot.
"The violence must come to an end now. Otherwise, the sector and its workers will not survive," the BGMEA president said, adding that the sector cannot be a casualty of the squabbles between the two political parties.
FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed warned compliant factories would be made targets in a planned manner so the country's main export earning sector cannot stand on its own. "Political parties will carry out political activities - we have no problem with that. But nobody has the right to destroy the garment sector," he added.
AKM Mosharraf Hussain, managing director of Standard Group, who also attended the meeting, told reporters that he would plead with the central bank and the commercial banks to find a way so he could repay the loans and at the same time continue the business.
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"Making a comeback will be a huge challenge. I will need support from the central bank and other banks. Otherwise, the group will not survive."
I Ie added: "We will repay the loans, but the bank interests will have to be cut. The central bank can set an annual amount that I have to pay to the banks."
The Standard Group MD, however, did not give any estimate of the sum his family-run factory' owes to banks.
Hussain, whose company has a reputation of being one of the most compliant factories in the country; also said exemplary punishment has to be handed out to the real attackers through proper probe.
Standard Group employs about 50,000 people in its 23 production units and exports garment products worth nearly $325 million annually.
Its clients include American Eagle, GAP, Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, KOHL'S, Sears, Abercrombie & Fitch and Gymboree, according to the website of the group.
Leaders of the International Ghamber of Commerce-Bangladesh, Bangladesh Insurance Association and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry were also present at the meeting held at the BGMEA headquarters in the capital.