About 180 garment factories are yet to submit their structural designs, soil test reports and premium of insurance to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association after two months of the expire of deadline.
The factories remained out of BGMEA service due to their failure, association officials said on Saturday.
After the collapse of Rana Plaza on April 24 which killed at least 1,132 people, mostly apparel workers, the BGMEA asked their members to submit structural designs, layouts and soil test reports of the factories by May 30.
The country’s apparel sector faced severe pressure in home and abroad to improve the work-place safety after Rana Plaza incident following the devastating fire in Tazreen Fashions that killed 113 workers in Ashulia.
About 1,300 factories had submitted structural designs and soil test reports to the association within the deadline.
The trade body had decided to stop services, including issuance of ‘utilisation declaration’ certificates, to the factories that failed to submit their structural designs and soil test reports.
Some of the factories secured time extension through an undertaking mentioning the date of submitting the report.
BGMEA vice-president Shahidullah Azim said, ‘Most of the factories maintained their commitments but a very few number of factories failed to submit the documents.’
About 3,500 BGMEA members are in operation across the country and about 2,000 of them are engaged in direct export, he said adding that others did subcontract jobs.
Out of 2000 factories, 180 factories have so far been out of BGMEA service as most of them failed to submit their structural designs and soil test reports and some of them have failed to give premium of insurance, Azim said.
‘None will be allowed for business until they submit the reports and premiums to the BGMEA,’ he said.
On the other hand, a circular of BGMEA president Md Atiqul Islam to its members on July 14 said that 1,819 factories had submitted their structural designs and soil test reports to the association.
-With New Age input
