The government is considering tough action against the garment factories that failed to conduct the detailed engineering assessment (DEA) within the timeframe recommended by the teams of engineers concerned, officials have said. The move came following the failure of a good number of factories that were asked to conduct DEA after initial assessment by experts from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), they have added. BUET under the government-International Labour Organization (ILO) joint initiative assessed about 500 garment factories and recommended DEA for about 250 factories finding structural flaws there. The inspection programme under the joint initiative started from November, 2013. The BUET engineers’ teams gave six weeks’ time for conducting the DEA. On the other hand, an official review panel also asked 45 more factories to do the same. Of them, about 14 units were yet to start the process. The panel, headed by the DIFE inspector general, was formed in 2013 to decide on shutdown of any garment factory, if found risky or non-compliant during inspection by any of the three initiatives – Accord, Alliance and the government-ILO joint programme. When asked, Syed Ahmed, Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) said, “From last month the DIFE inspectors started monitoring whether the factories, that have been recommended to conduct DEA, started the process or not.” He said the government would hold a meeting on Thursday next to select a number of firms for the DEA. The firms will be those that have already been and are to be assessed under the National Tripartite Plan of Action. There is an allegation that manufacturers are dilly-dallying with the DEA process. On completion of the selection process, the DIFE would notify those units again to conduct the DEA, he added. “If any of them again fails to comply with the DEA requirement, the government will ultimately shut down those units,” he warned. When contacted, few manufacturers said they were in the process to shift their units located in rented buildings and they informed the DIFE of it.
Source: https://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/05/06/91585
