Govt panel finally orders closure of six RMG units

A government panel has ordered closure of six garment factories housed in one building in Dhaka and recommended partial evacuation of each floor of a six-storied building in Chittagong.
The decision on closure of the six readymade garment (RMG) factories came Sunday based on the recommendation made to this end by the RMG retailers' group Accord after detection of major structural flaws in the building.
The six RMG units that employ about 2,500 workers are Cherry (Pvt) Ltd, Florence Fashions, Ultimate Fashions, Chandana Apparels, Joya Fashion and Maxtim Industries.
"We took the decision on shutdown of these six units Sunday," said Syed Ahmed, Inspector General of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, while talking to the FE.
On the other hand, the panel asked Monday the Clifton Textile and Apparels-inspected by the Alliance, another retailers' group-to vacate a portion of each floor of its building as engineers found its columns undersized.
"We have asked the Clifton authority to conduct a detailed engineering analysis within next six weeks," Mr Ahmed said.
However, the Accord recommended immediate evacuation of the building housing the six apparel units at the end of March last while the government panel visited it in April. But it put its decision pending following a disagreement between the local and foreign engineers over the building's concrete strength.
Later, on June 17 the Accord in a statement on its website said Florence Fashions had made arrangements at other facilities for continuing production for the Accord buyers.
But the factory continued production in the building for the other non-Accord buyers.
Finally the government panel gave Sunday its decision that no units would be able to run their production in the building.
When contacted, Shahidullah Azim, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), who is also a member of the panel, said the garment units of the building, except Florence, were closed earlier following the Accord's inspection.
Florence was operating there as it had orders from non-Accord buyers, but due to the building's structural flaws it was not possible for any unit to run there, he explained.
Recently the Accord requested the panel to take necessary measures against three more garment factories while the Alliance sought action against two.
The Accord-inspected factories are Fakir Apparels in Narayanganj, Oishee Fashions at Tongi in Gazipur and Ashulia Fashion at Mirpur in the city.  
The Alliance inspected the Clifton Textile in Chittagong and Thats It Fashions Limited at Tejgaon in the city.