Syed Nurul Islam, Director of FBCCI and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association; Chairman and CEO of Well Group of Industry
To control the second wave of corona, the government wants to keep people indoors for a week. Public health experts want at least 14 days. I also think there is no alternative. Now the question is whether the industrial factories will not be closed in the lockdown and the production system will be kept active by keeping the industrial factories open in a special system or not?
The question of opening or closing an industrial factory always mark fingers to the garment factory. There are good reasons for that. About 85% of the country’s export earnings come from this sector. But we forget that our garment sectors no longer exports by cutting and sewing clothes. The cloth is exported by cutting and sewing the garments. Besides the textile sector, the garments accessories sector is also involved. So you don’t have to think about just keeping or closing the garment factory. You have to think about the whole textile, accessories and garment factory. The garment factory is kept open. What is the benefit? How will the production of garment factories continue in the absence of yarn, cloth and accessories? So it would not be right to think only of the garment sector factories to keep the factories closed or open.
Now the question is, will the factory be open or closed? I say that in the interest of the country’s economy, the entire textile and garment sector factories must be run in compliance with strict health regulations. What does the last experience say? Due to the indecisiveness of the then leadership of BGMEA, the factory was closed once it was closed and thousands of workers were taken to the streets. The textile and garment export sector suffered a loss of about 6. It is not clear when our textile and clothing sector will recover from that loss. Once again, if the textile and garment factories are shut down due to the lockdown, the entire sector will be wiped out.
The government’s incentives and assistance will not help. So a humble request to the government to give the textile, garment and accessories factories a chance to remain open during the lockdown under strict health rules as before, our export sector will continue to fight for survival. On female and male labor employee’s colleagues.
