Alleges factory owner, demands Tk 300 crore in damages
The owner of Savar-based Liberty Fashion Wears on Sunday alleged that British retailer Tesco had coerced them into shutting down the factory.
He made the allegation at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city. Liberty also demanded Tk 300 crore as damages from the UK retailer due to the forced closure.
‘Our whole business, including investments worth Tk 300 crore, the fate of 5,000 workers and their 20,000 family members were dealt a fatal blow when the Tesco-nominated engineering firm in its report, based only on visual inspection, said that the factory building would collapse within 60 hours,’ said Mozammel Huq, chairman of Liberty Fashion Wears.
He said that they had been compelled to close the operation in the factory building as Tesco convinced the BGMEA, the government and the International Labour Organisation with a report that was based only on visual inspection and assumptions.
‘Tesco and their nominated engineering firm Medway Consultancy Services did not follow any ethics and the rules of the Bangladesh government and their report was fabricated,’ Mozammel alleged.
‘Tesco has not followed the guidelines of EU Accord being a signatory,’ he also said at the press conference.
Under the Accord, brands had pledged to provide financial assistance to workers while Liberty Fashions was closed and the Accord officials would now work with brands, the factory owners’ association and trade unions to cover outstanding wages, overtime payments and severance pay for factory workers who could lose their jobs.
After the Tesco move, experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association inspected the factory and they did certify the building to continue production, said Mozammel.
Tesco in May had cancelled its orders with the Savar-based Liberty Fashions as its surveyor team found problems with the building’s beams, slabs and columns.
On June 30, an expert panel of BUET suggested that there was no immediate risk in the Liberty Fashions’ building and so the factory owner did not need to evacuate the building immediately.
But Tesco is yet to allow the building to start its operation.
-With New Age input
