The apparel apex body BGMEA will stop providing services temporarily to its members failing to introduce workers’ biometric database within the further extended time till April 30. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Tuesday issued a circular in this regard requesting the members to enroll in the system. On October 17 last, the BGMEA decided to start the move for database preparation afresh after it was taken more than two and half years back, sources said. Earlier, the BGMEA extended the time twice — December 2015 and January 31 last as deadlines for its members which now has been extended to April, they said. Till date, only 517 BGMEA members have registered their names with the trade body to introduce the service, they added. The database would preserve basic information about a worker, including his or her identification, family details, record about service details, including factory and employer, dates of his or her joining or leaving the job and its reasons and also details of his/her skill. The database is also important for successful implementation and use of a proposed fund for all export-oriented sectors as the fund would be collected at a rate of 0.03 per cent from each export receipt, according to a BGMEA circular. “The BGMEA members also need not to pay annual group insurance premium once the fund is fully functional,” it noted. The importance of a worker’s central database got urgency after Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse as its absence and proper identification of victims took a long time. In the absence of a comprehensive database, the process of compensation for the affected and their dependants was allegedly delayed.
