One of the four probe committees has held outsiders responsible for the recent arson attack on the Standard Group readymade garment (RMG) factory at Gazipur, people involved in the investigation said Saturday.
A group of workers and labour leaders, most of them outsiders, who gathered at 'Balurmath' area (adjacent to the factory) for a meeting and processions are mainly responsible for the fire, they said.
The committee also found that a group of factory workers, initially not involved in the attack, later joined the arson attacks following rubber bullet firing by the Industrial Police personnel.
The committee is one of the four, headed by the additional district magistrate of Gazipur and formed to find out the actual reasons of the attack.
The committee also found that the problem with the local defeated commissioner candidate, rumour that sweater factory workers would remain outside the newly-announced wage hike, problems with the mid-level management and involvement of some labour leaders and organisations might be the reasons for the attack.
Some labour leaders and their organisations instigated the workers of the Standard Group factory to come out of the factory on many occasions to realise their various demands. It might also be a reason for the arson attack, it added.
Earlier on December 01 last, the government formed three probe committees and asked them to submit their reports within seven days. All the committees extended their time due to political turmoil.
The committees are headed by the additional secretary of the Home Ministry, the deputy secretary of the Labour Ministry and the additional district magistrate in Gazipur. The other one was formed by the Fire Service and Civil Defense Directorate led by one of its deputy directors.
"We submitted our probe report to the DC on Thursday last with a number of recommendations including identifying those workers and labour leaders who gathered at Balurmath," ADM of Gazipur Md Mohsin told the FE Saturday.
Without going into details, he said they recommended a number of steps including identifying those workers and labour leaders who held meetings at Balurmath and bringing them to justice, coordination between the Industrial Police and the District Police and payment of wages to workers of each garment factory within a stipulated time.
All problems of the garment factories should be reported to the Gazipur Crisis Management Cell and effective coordination and discussion were recommended to avert such problem.
The recommendations also included establishing good relations of garment factory owners with the local people including house owners. No big factory should be allowed to be set up in an area having narrow roads as fire service or police could not reach the spot smoothly when any accident or incident occurs. The committee also recommended reduction of communication gap between workers and owners and mid-level management.
The arson attack was launched on the Standard Group factory at Konabari in Gazipur in the early hours of November 29 last. It caused losses to the tune of Tk 12.0 billion as garments, vehicles and other valuable machinery were gutted.
Nearly 19,000 workers are employed by the Standards Group in manufacturing apparel products for the world's leading retailers and brands like Gap, American Eagle, Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, KOHL'S and Sears.
