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Hasina vows action against factory arsonists

Star Business Report
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday visited Standard Group's burnt-out factory' complex in Konabari of Gazipur to see for herself the devastation from a fire set allegedly by outsiders.
"The fire at the Standard Group factories was planned," said Hasina. The prime minister spent more than an hour at the factory, speaking to the owners and workers of the compliant factory'.
"The building and its contents could not have been burnt so easily."
The fire did not affect 19,000 workers alone, it gave a blow to thousands of families, she said.
The prime minister said her government would not let go of the perpetrators. "We will take action against the perpetrators."
The fire that began in the early hours of Friday has left at least 19,000 garment workers, mostly from the impoverished rural areas, jobless.
Hasina was shocked to imagine that the invaders used a horn speaker of the mosque built by Standard Group to instigate the workers living nearby to join them and to go on a rampage and burn the factory'.
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Standard Group Managing Director Mosharraf Hussain said he had set up the factory to create jobs, so that the workers could lead dignified lives.
The 69-year-old businessman broke into tears as he spoke at the meeting, where many employeesand workers also became emotional.
Hasina said she would talk to the banks, from where Standard Group has borrowed money to set up the factory, to find ways to help the company resume its business.
Early Friday morning, about 60-70 outsiders used diesel and petrol to set fire to the garment factory on fire, inflicting a loss ofat least Tk 1,200 crore on the company.
"The people who have destroyed the factory do not want to destroy the sector alone, but also the economy and the country," said the prime minister, whose government increased the workers' wages by more than 200 percent since coming to power in 2009.
The premier has played a key role in convincing the garment factory owners to agree to payTk 5,300 as minimum wage for entry level workers from Tk 3,000. In 2010, her government had nearly doubled the wage toTk3,000 from Tk 1,600.
Anisul Islam Mahmud, water resources minister, Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, and lawmakers A KM Mozammel Haque and Zahid Ahsan Rasel, were also present.
The prime minister's visit came after top leaders of BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association met her at her official residence seeking robust security for the sector.
Meanwhile, Md Saifur Rahman, human resources officer ofthe company, filed a case under the special law, our Gazipur corre-