One of the two main pillars of the economy must not be allowed to crumble

Enayet RasulbrThe wisdom of the proverbial ' a stitch in time saves nine' is hardly found applied in Bangladesh. Otherwise, how it can be that an economic sector which presently engages the greatest number of the industrial work-force of the country and earns for it the highest amount of foreign currency, such a sector is gradually crumbling down from an assortment of factors while the administration plays hardly a role to reverse this fatal trend. Of course, the government may say that operators and owners of garments industries are expected to run their factories on their own and government has no responsibility in the matter. But is it really so simple Any government worth the name is obligated to maintain law and order and extend full security to properties including privately owned ones. Specially, this duty becomes all the greater in relation to commercial or industrial establishments on which the economic health of the country so crucially depends like the export-oriented apparel making units.brBut these export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) units have been coming under destructive activities for the last couple of years. Right from the outset of these troubles, the owners of these RMG units sensed that only a few workers were involved and they were egged on by outside elements posing as friends of the workers but who were really out to ruin the flourishing RMG sector of this country to fulfill their ulterior motives. Over the last two years, these incidents of mindless attacks on the RMG industries leading to destruction of valuable machinery, premises, produced apparels, etc., have been noted without a pause. brBut the strangest thing has been the casual manner in which the government continues to treat these incidents. The country is being governed by emergency laws and this factor alone removes any excuse on the part of the government that it cannot move in a tough manner against the trouble makers. Rather the emergency powers should have only facilitated the government in taking the necessary stern actions against these conspiratorial quarters. A report in this paper headlined on last Tuesday that 151 garments industries were vandalised between January and August of the current year and 109 of them became the unfortunate victims of such pillaging entirely on the basis of deliberately circulated false news of workers' deaths while the rest were due to protest over low wages. This report did not mention the total number of RMG units which were physically attacked during the last two years. If it had taken stock of these incidents for the last 24 months, then it would have very likely yielded a bigger number of the vandalized RMG industries. And the findings would also show up that in most cases, the destructives activities were trigged by completely baseless news or rumours of workers' deaths or their bodily harms at the hands of the owners.brEvery time credible media reports on these incidents focused on the aspects of non workers or outsiders provoking the troubles, the participation of only a few workers in them and their starting the violence on the basis of mischievously spread stories of workers facing brutalities or for unjustified demands of higher wages. Many of the vandalised units which came under attack on grounds of poor wages or irregular payment of wages, were noted to be among the best run or fairly run in terms of making relatively better and regular payments to their workers.brThus, it needs no stretch of the imagination to realise that the incidents must have been deliberately engineered by vested interest groups who want the withering away of the RMG industries in Bangladesh. Investigative efforts launched by the association of the RMG industry owners, the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturing and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (BGMEA), several times pinpointed the quarters and the persons who were behind these calculated assaults to law enforcement bodies. Government's own security agencies also carried out their own research and came to similar conclusions as the BGMEA reports. But no hard actions followed to nab these trouble makers and deactivate them for good. Therefore, it is no wonder that they have gone on with their mischief with a sense of impunity. brAnd understandably, this lack of an appropriate response is pushing the owners of RMG units into desperation. The BGMEA has sent an ultimatum to the government to protect their industries within a week's time and if this is not done, they have threatened to take actions on their own. What these actions would be are not known, but BGMEA leaders had let it be known that they are even considering bringing shutters down on their industries. Clearly, their backs have reached the wall and they can endure such sufferings no further.brNothing can be worse than physical destruction of industrial capacities. Workers themselves stand to gain nothing from it as such destructions leading to closure of industries will only push them into worst conditions of unemployment and penury. For the owners, closing down industries due to their physical destructions can be very shocking and disheartening. They may not be blamed in such cases for losing heart completely about taking the initiatives again to build and run industries.brA government's primary duty includes the protection of property. If property is attacked and destroyed, specially if properties get repeatedly destroyed as have been happening in the RMG sector, then it becomes a major law and order issue. But what the government in Bangladesh is doing about this major law and order issue which has cropped up in relation to the RMG sector Operators and owners of RMG industries have been pleading for long that police, BDR and other law enforcement bodies should be extensively used to protect their industrial premises and head-off any troubles before these can even start. But the pleadings so far were in vain.brMeanwhile, a leading national daily paper headlined in its front page recently that 40 per cent of the country's garments industries remain closed down from various troubles such as vandalism and growing labour unrest. Such a report should have caused enough concern in the government. That this concern is not seen is very regrettable. Can the government afford to preside so silently -- doing nothing -- over the destruction of the RMG sector After all, this sector along with remittances received from our overseas workers, are together helping the economy of Bangladesh to avoid a crashing down.