Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday asked all banks to ensure deduction of 0.03 per cent of the encashed export value from the export-oriented readymade garment factories for the RMG sector central fund.The BB issued the instruction as a number of banks refrain from deducting the portion of export value for the central fund.The amount of deposit in the central fund is not satisfactory due to non-collection of the fund by the banks, the BB instruction said.It also asked banks to report to the labour ministry’s central fund director general within seven day after completion of a month on how much money they have deposited in the fund.The central bank issued the instruction following a letter from the labour ministry.The labour ministry letter mentioned that as many as 1,336 families of injured or dead labourers of different factories received Tk 26.39 crore from the fund since its inception.Labourers of another apparel factory received Tk 10.37 lakh from the fund as their outstanding salaries, it said.According to the labour rules that came into effect on September 15, 2015, the export-oriented factories must contribute 0.03 per cent of their freight on board prices to the fund while the contributions from the government and the buyers are voluntary.The government started collection at the rate of 0.03 per cent of FoB prices from the RMG factory owners from July 1, 2016 for depositing the money in the central fund.The money is deposited equally in the two accounts –– one is beneficiary account and the other is contingency account.Grants for workers or their family members are taken from the beneficiary account while the amount deposited in the contingency account is used to meet the dues of workers of any closed factory if its owner fails to pay the workers dues.From the beneficiary account, workers receive up to Tk 3 lakh for death or permanent disability due to accident in workplace and up to Tk 2 lakh for illness.A garment worker or his/her heirs receives Tk 3 lakh from the fund in case of death or grave injuries during his/her work.In case of any decomposition or death outside the workplace a workers’ family receives Tk 2 lakh from the fund.
