Gazipur Factory Blaze Probe
High-powered body set up
The government on Sunday set up a high-powered committee to investigate the fire in a complaint factory at Konabari in Gazipur on November 28, officials said.
The labour ministry has made the decision amid continued protest by the business groups as a group of miscreants set fire to the apparel unit of the Standard Group, leaving more than 27,000 workers jobless.
The high-powered committee, led by additional secretary of the home ministry, Moinuddin Khandaker, has been asked to submit its report in seven working days, the officials said after an emergency meeting with top officials of security agencies at Prabasi Kalyan Bhaban in the capital in the morning.
‘We took the matter seriously and necessary instructions have been given to the law enforcement agencies to identify the people involved in the attack [at the Standard Group],’ the labour and employment minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, told the reporters after the meeting.
Representatives from the police, the Rapid Action Battalion, the National Security Intelligence, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and trade unions, and senior labour ministry official will be inducted into the investigation committee, the minister said.
Senior leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association, including its president M Atiqul Islam, and owners of the fire- ravaged factory also attended the meeting.
The state minister for home, Shamsul Haque Tuku, said that the law enforcement agencies had started work to identify the
attackers. ‘We cannot tolerate such activities that put the industry at risk.’
Till Sunday night, the government was yet to set the terms of reference for the committee, ministry officials said.
The Standard Group is the largest single apparel factory factory of the country which is fully compliant. Its clients include American Eagle, GAP, Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, KOHL’S, Sears, Abercrombie and Fitch and Gymboree.
After the fire, the multi-story building has been declared abandoned.
The New Age correspondent in Gazipur said that Saidur Rahman, administrator of the human resource department of Matrixport , a concern of the Standard Group, field a case with the Joydevpur police on Saturday night.
The police have so far arrested 14 workers of different apparel factories for their suspected involvement in the fire incident.
The police also caught the imam and khadem of the mosque, where the PA system was used to spread the rumour that caused the attack, for interrogation.
According to the case documents, several hundred miscreants intruded into the factory building and set fire to and vandalised factory after a rumour regarding the death of two workers in police firing on November 28 .
Nineteen covered vans and four microbuses of the factory were also burnt in the incident.
Different business groups on Sunday demanded that the government should immediately take stern action against the miscreant who had set the factory on fire.
In separate statements, the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation and the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dhaka also expressed shock at the incident.
The federation’s statement said, ‘We express our strong resentment at the untoward incident. This incident will create a very grave negative image of the country.’
In its statement, the MCCI also expressed concern saying that the apparel industry was passing through a challenging situation and this might result in the reduction of export earnings.
Additional district magistrate of Gazipur Mohammad Mohsin, who is heading a seven-member inquiry team, said that it would start work today.
Another departmental committee headed by Fire Service and Civil Defence deputy director Jaharul Amin started investigating the the fire on Sunday.
The Gazipur Detective Branch officer-in-charge, Abul Khayer, said that 14 people has been arrested till Sunday.
On November 28, some 40 to 50 workers held a rally in front of the factory.
-With New Age input
