15-20pc RMG orders lost

The council of advisers on Thursday asked the finance ministry to take necessary steps to recover the funds different ministries deposited with various banks.
The finance ministry has been asked to request the Bangladesh Bank to sit with the banks to recover the deposits, adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan told a media briefing after the council meeting.
Speaking at the briefing, Adviser Asif Mahmud said the government was taking due measures to address the problems of labour unrest and a committee was formed to monitor the situation and resolve the problems of workers.
The finance adviser took an initiative to arrange a loan of Tk 790 million for a top RMG owner so that he can manage to pay salaries of the workers of his factories, he mentioned.
Replying to a question, he said that the countries which are benefiting from the unrest might have a link with the current unrest. The (work) orders have declined by 15- 20 per cent due to the recent turmoil and some countries are lobbying to take these orders away, he added.
He also mentioned that a platform dubbed as the Bekar Sramik Shanggha led to unrest in some areas and vandalised some factories.

When one of the organisers of the platform was arrested, it was found that he is a leader of the Awami League, Mr Asif said.
She said different government ministries and departments maintain deposits with different banks.
"In my ministry, the Climate Fund has TK 39.51 billion. Of this, a certain amount was kept as the FDR with the Farmers Bank, which is now renamed as the Padma Bank. And now the bank owes TK8.73 billion to us with interest. But the bank is not giving us the money back despite repeated requests," the adviser elaborated, explaining the intensity of such a crisis.
They (Padma Bank) told us that the money would be kept with them until 2038, she said. Meanwhile, they have been renewing the deposit without any permission from the ministry, she said, alleging that the previous government left the banking sector in a vulnerable state.
As the adviser raised the issue in the meeting, the Council decided to recover the deposits of the ministries from the banks as some other advisers stated that deposits of their ministries were also stuck with different banks, she said.
Responding to a question, Ms Rizwana said former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina must face trial as the mass killings and atrocities during the July revolution were carried out by the government headed by her.
"Due legal process would be maintained for her extradition and trial," she said.
Replying to another question, Ms Rizwana said the load shedding situation will be improved by a couple of weeks. The government is prioritising the arrear payments in an effort to ease the load shedding, she added.
She also said that the heads of the six reform commissions, announced by the chief adviser on Wednesday, will select the members of their respective committees in consultation with the Council of Advisers.
It may take a couple of weeks to fix the terms of reference of the commissions, but they have already started the primary work, the adviser said.
She said that after finalising their reports, the government will hold dialogue with the political parties to reach a consensus on these reforms and then the elections will be held.
CA's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam moderated the briefing held at the Foreign Service Academy in the city.
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