Owing to international pressures, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association is preparing a list of garment factories that are non-operational and existing only on paper. Following recent tragedies, the pressure from international buyers has increased. BGMEA vice-president Shahidullah Azim says that they had been assessing the number of non-operational factories as the ministerial committee on social compliance had been repeatedly asking them to submit the list of operational factories. He said the number of BGMEA member factories was 5,400 but a large number of factories had been remaining non-operational for long.
Azim also said that about 1,800 member factories were now out of operation and some of them were existing only on paper with no physical presence. He also said that the government might set a policy for non-operational factories and the BGMEA would not take the responsibility of the fate of the factories that exist only on paper.
A committee headed by its first vice president Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury was formed recently to prepare a list of such factories and after that they will discuss with the concerned ministries to decide the next steps, he said. Explaining the reason for such a move, he said that there are names of factories but in reality when the inspectors visit, they find no sign of any factory which creates problems. Moreover, there are also pressure from the buyers and the government for a real picture of the functional factories, he further said.
