Apparel makers have decided to take extra security measures in the country’s industrial belts to help ensure safety and security of the people working in the factories, industry-people said. As part of the move, the industry in cooperation with the law enforcement agencies and other service providers, including banks and insurance companies, will set up closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the surrounding areas of respective garment factories initially at Ashulia and Savar, they added. Labour leaders, however, alleged that in the name of installing CCTV cameras, the factory owners and management will repress the workers’ rights to associate. “We have decided to install CCTV cameras in surrounding areas of our factories, primarily located in Ashulia and Savar areas,” Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told the FE Tuesday. The main purpose of the move is to ensure safety and security of the factory people, especially that of workers, he said, adding there were many incidents of mugging, theft of covered van, stealing of workers’ wages and also the workers, mostly the female, faced some types of assault while returning home at night. To prevent such unwanted incidents, “we have planned to set up CCTV cameras so that the wrongdoers could be easily identified and brought them under punishment”, he added. Initially, it is the factory owners who will set up such cameras on the premises of their factories Mr Rahman said. He added CCTV cameras would be installed in the rest of the places of roadsides in cooperation with factory owners, banks, insurance companies and law enforcing agencies. After successful implementation at Ashulia and Savar, such vigilance will be put in place in other industrial zones, including at Gazipur and Narayanganj, he added. The apparel makers in the two areas have planned to start installing CCTV cameras near Ashulia Bridge and Bipail highway from December this year, sources said. Three committees comprising representatives from apparel makers, leaders of the BGMEA, Industrial Police, and local police stations have already been formed to install and monitor all the activities in this regard, they added. There more than 400 garment factories mainly operated by the BGMEA leaders located in the two areas and majority of them produce apparel products for leading brands and retailers like H&M, Walmart, Inditex and C&A. Nazma Akter, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, said “It is nothing but a strategy of the factory owners to repress the union activities of different rights organisations.” Various right groups work to create awareness among the workers about their rights and responsibilities outside the factories, she said. The factory management will use the CCTV footage in case workers to organise and raise their lawful demands.
