The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) cannot start the inspection of nearly 1,000 small-sized garment factories for a lack of funds.Those factories are small and not included in any of the three inspection agencies, namely the Accord, the Alliance and the National Initiative, said Md Shamsuzzaman Bhuiyan, inspector-general of the government agency.Since the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, the three initiatives have been inspecting nearly 3,800 factories to fix structural, fire and electrical loopholes in the factories.“However, we need funds from the government for the inspection of those factories. We had approached the International Labour Organisation, but to little avail,” Bhuiyan said at a discussion on the progress of remediation at garment factories at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka on Saturday.Bhuiyan said 50 percent of the remediation works of the 1,549 factories that were inspected under the national initiative have been completed so far.“The DIFE has set December 31, 2018 as the deadline for the completion of the remediation of the factories under the national initiative.” The remediation progress of many factories is higher than the average rate, he said.Bhuiyan said he has been holding meetings with 418 factory owners as they operate their business in their own buildings.Since, they own both the factory and the building, the remediation would be completed more quickly, he said. The delays are being observed in the shared and rented factories, he added.
