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FACTORIES WITH SLOW REMEDIATION

Accord list faulty: BGMEA

Refayet Ullah Mirdha
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday termed faulty a list of 532 garment factories with which the Accord has proposed severing business ties due to poor progress in remediation works.
The majority of the factories in the list are close to completing their remediation works as per the recommendations of the Accord experts, said Siddiqur Rahman, president of the BGMEA, yesterday.
Not only that, many of the factories on it are not in operation anymore, he told The Daily Star at his office in Dhaka yesterday.
Asked whether the list was a threat for the garment sector, Rahman replied in the negative.
"We are in negotiations with our retailers for a solution. I hope we can reach a solution very soon."
Recently, the Accord wrote to its more than 200 signatory retailers calling for severing business relations with 532 factories as they were delaying remediation.
The agency is set to pack its bags and leave Bangladesh on November 30 after a five-and-a-half year tenure. It sought an
extension for three more years, but the request was shot down.
"We cannot extend the tenure anymore as there is a verdict from the court on this," said Mujibul Haque Chunnu, state minister for labour and employment, yesterday.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Monday came down hard on the Accord for its intent to sever business ties with 532 garment factories.
"We cannot accept this," he said in a programme on compliance in Bangladesh's garment sector at The Westin hotel in Dhaka.
The owners of the factories have already spentTk 5 crore to Tk 30 crore for inspection and remediation of a factory. "This is so sad," he said.
"What progress has the Accord made in Bangladesh? After five years they could only handover 20 out ofmore than 1,600 factories they have inspected so far," Ahmed said.
The comments of the Accord in this regard could not be known despite several attempts.
Earlier, Chunnu disbursed Tk 41.45 lakh to the 134 workers and their children for treatment and education at a programme held at the Noorul Quader auditorium in the BGMEA premises.