The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has extended the time by one month for completing biometric database for workers in its member factories.The previous deadline was on December 31, 2015.In a circular, the BGMEA has recently asked its members to introduce biometric database for workers in their respective factories by January 31.‘We missed the December 31 deadline as we had to spent a lot of time on taking elementary preparations for the enrolment of workers for the biometric database in the factories,’ Ferdous Parvez Bivon, vice-president of the BGMEA, told New Age on Sunday.He said that the trade body formed 18 teams to work in the readymade garment factories across the country so that the enrolment process at the factories could be completed successfully.Out of the 18 teams, 14 have started working in the factories located in Dhaka, Ashulia in Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj areas and have already completed enrolment in 21 factories, Bivon said.He said that the teams for Chittagong would start their work within one or two days and the initial target of introducing workers’ biometric database in 500 factories in Dhaka and 200 in Chittagong would be achieved by January 31.Biometric database would be introduced in all RMG factories by March this year, Bivon added.Following the tragic Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people — mostly garment workers, the then BGMEA president, Atiqul Islam, had asked the member factories of the association to prepare a biometric database for their workers.On May 20, 2013, he instructed factory owners at Ashulia in Dhaka to complete biometric database for their workers by August 30 that year but as of December 25, 2015 only 301 factories enrolled names of their workers for the system.Bivon said that they would start the work from the point where the process was stopped as the database at about 301 factories was completed in last two years.On November 2015, the BGMEA renewed its agreement with two IT firms — Systech Digital Limited and Tiger IT Bangladesh Limited — to revive the programme for enrolment of biometric capture of the workers that started in June 2013.In a letter to its members, the BGMEA said as per the rules under labour act RMG exporters would have to pay 0.3 per cent against their total export to the workers’ welfare fund established by the government and financial assistance for the deceased and disabled workers and premiums of group insurance would be paid from the fund.Earlier, the BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman said that to utilise the fund for the RMG workers the exact number and identification of workers were important.According to BGMEA officials, maximum 2,700 out of the 3,500 member factories are in operation and it would be possible to introduce biometric database in the factories by June this yearThe BGMEA letter said factory owners would have to pay from Tk 60,000 to Tk 1.95 lakh based on their manpower for completing biometric database at their factories.
