Remediation process has remained stuck in the readymade garment factories which have been inspected under government-ILO joint initiative due to the unwillingness of the factory authorities, said people involved with the process. Following the completion of initial inspection in some 1,500 factories the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments on November 10 last year asked the factory owners to submit corrective action plans to the department within the next three months. According to the DIFE, 175 factories have so far submitted corrective action plans to the department. ‘Correction in the factories inspected under the national initiative has started but the progress is very poor. Most of the factory owners are reluctant to fix the safety issues showing excuse of lack of financing and work orders,’ Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the DIFE, told New Age on Tuesday. He said the DIFE would sit with the factory owners in Dhaka Zone who are completely unwilling to comply with the suggestions of the inspectors to ensure safe working condition in their units. Syed said 221 factories in Dhaka had been asked to conduct detailed engineering assessment but none of them are yet to submit the report.Out of 221 factories, 45 want to relocate their units, 45 started processes for DEA and rest of the factories are completely unwilling to conduct the DEA, he said. ‘We are trying to sit with the factory owners in Dhaka who are unwilling to comply with the order from the government agency within March 18. State minister for labour Mujibul Haque is likely to be present at the meeting and the factory owners will have to clear their stand whether they want to fix safety issue as per the government order,’ Syed said. He also said that many factories were showing excuse that their factory buildings were rented and building owners did not agree to implement the corrective action plan. Of the 175 factories that have submitted CAPs to the DIFE five have been approved and about 170 are in the process of approval, Syed said. According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the national initiative has so far inspected 1,517 factories and suggested the DEA for 390. After the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garments workers, in April 2013, EU retailers formed Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh while North American retailers formed Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety. Both the initiatives launched inspection programmes in the Bangladeshi RMG factories from where their members procure products and the initiatives completed their primary safety assessments in over 2,150 factories. The government in association with the ILO announced a separate inspection programme for rest of the garment factories which were not on the lists of the Alliance and the Accord.
