Security for the RMG sector
Friday, 6 June 2008
THE association of readymade garments (RMG) exporters, BGMEA, issued an urgent appeal to the government last Wednesday to raise a section of the police force or industrial police to provide round-the-clock security to their industries. If responded to, this would take a while. Therefore, the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) is demanding the strictest and widest possible deployment of law enforcement personnel immediately in all areas where the garments industries are concentrated. There are enough reasons for the BGMEA's concern and exceptional pleading for security. Twenty-five export oriented garments industries were attacked and pillaged last Tuesday in the Savar-Ashulia region. The attackers also rampaged vehicles, banks and shopping malls in the area in an orgy of senseless violence centred on the rumour of the death of a garment worker in a road accident.
Last year, garments industries in Dhaka and Chittagong were the victims of large scale vandalism that led to destruction of physical capacities and stores of raw materials and finished products. Similar incidents have been recorded on and off in the present year. Only last Monday, three big garment industries at Kalurghat in the Chittagong area declared a lay-off in the face of vandalising activities of unruly elements. The mayhem there was not limited to only these three industries. At least 24 garments industries in the area were fearing about troubles and their management demanded the formation of a crisis management cell to cope with the developing situation there. They observed that the Chittagong region contributes nearly 40 per cent to garments export, while noting that if they fail to protect their production and factories from workers' unrest or intervention by outsiders, the national economy would suffer in the near future.
The unabated incidents of attacks on the garments industries call for very focused attention from the government. There can be no excuses or leniency in the matter because at stake is the fate of the industry which is the biggest export earner and one of the major employers of the workforce of the country. A slide in the RMG sector can have devastating effects on the Bangladesh economy at the macro- and micro-levels. Thus, it should be obvious why the owners' greater insistence for their security is more than justified. The law enforcement bodies should have been proactive in the first place to head off such troubles. That they weren't is a very regrettable experience. But not a moment should be wasted by them now in girding up their loins to extend comprehensive and full-proof security to the garment sector. Government would be presiding unpardonably over the destruction of a pillar of the national economy if it shows any further loose attitude in this regard.
Foreign buyers of RMG products may soon turn away from Bangladesh if they get this feeling that the troubles in the RMG sector in this country would be a long standing one and this state would be all the more for the easy-going attitude on the part of its administration. Sections of workers may have their grievances against the owners. But that is no license for them or their outside motivators to destroy industrial properties which are but national economic assets for all practical purposes. They can pursue their demands through the legally permissible process and no other. Therefore, law enforcement authorities need to be completely unsparing in facing up to the vandals and their likely promoters behind the wings.
Dealing with the present troubles in the RMG industries should ensure that no further such troubles are allowed to happen. The hardest and swiftest law enforcement actions should be taken against those who are credibly considered to be inducing these troubles. Previous investigations by security agencies clearly identified elements outside the RMG sector who were egging on these incidents. So, appropriate actions against these promoters of troubles have been overdue.
Last year, garments industries in Dhaka and Chittagong were the victims of large scale vandalism that led to destruction of physical capacities and stores of raw materials and finished products. Similar incidents have been recorded on and off in the present year. Only last Monday, three big garment industries at Kalurghat in the Chittagong area declared a lay-off in the face of vandalising activities of unruly elements. The mayhem there was not limited to only these three industries. At least 24 garments industries in the area were fearing about troubles and their management demanded the formation of a crisis management cell to cope with the developing situation there. They observed that the Chittagong region contributes nearly 40 per cent to garments export, while noting that if they fail to protect their production and factories from workers' unrest or intervention by outsiders, the national economy would suffer in the near future.
The unabated incidents of attacks on the garments industries call for very focused attention from the government. There can be no excuses or leniency in the matter because at stake is the fate of the industry which is the biggest export earner and one of the major employers of the workforce of the country. A slide in the RMG sector can have devastating effects on the Bangladesh economy at the macro- and micro-levels. Thus, it should be obvious why the owners' greater insistence for their security is more than justified. The law enforcement bodies should have been proactive in the first place to head off such troubles. That they weren't is a very regrettable experience. But not a moment should be wasted by them now in girding up their loins to extend comprehensive and full-proof security to the garment sector. Government would be presiding unpardonably over the destruction of a pillar of the national economy if it shows any further loose attitude in this regard.
Foreign buyers of RMG products may soon turn away from Bangladesh if they get this feeling that the troubles in the RMG sector in this country would be a long standing one and this state would be all the more for the easy-going attitude on the part of its administration. Sections of workers may have their grievances against the owners. But that is no license for them or their outside motivators to destroy industrial properties which are but national economic assets for all practical purposes. They can pursue their demands through the legally permissible process and no other. Therefore, law enforcement authorities need to be completely unsparing in facing up to the vandals and their likely promoters behind the wings.
Dealing with the present troubles in the RMG industries should ensure that no further such troubles are allowed to happen. The hardest and swiftest law enforcement actions should be taken against those who are credibly considered to be inducing these troubles. Previous investigations by security agencies clearly identified elements outside the RMG sector who were egging on these incidents. So, appropriate actions against these promoters of troubles have been overdue.