The government has increased allocation for its remediation coordination cell project to Tk 23 crore from Tk 8.84 crore to implement corrected action plan in the readymade garment factories. Labour ministry officials said that the Planning Commission had recently approved the corrected detailed project proposal of the RCC, increasing its tenure for two more years. They said that the government formed the RCC in May last year for one year to monitor the remediation work in RMG factories inspected under the government initiative supported by the International Labour Organisation. The government also allocated Tk 8.84 crore for conducting remediation work through appointing a consulting farm but the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments failed to make any remarkable progress in remediation on time. So, the government has extended the time frame of the RCC project for two more years (up to June, 2021) and increased allocation to Tk 23 crore. ‘As per the corrected DPP, we have already appointed 60 engineers through a consulting farm and they started their work from December 1,’ DIFE inspector general Shib Nath Roy told New Age on Tuesday. He said the ministry nominated a consulting farm namely LR International through an open tender in November and the farm provided 60 engineers (20 electrical, 20 fire and 20 structural) to the RCC. Saleh Uddin, project director of the RCC, said that they had appointed engineers for 20 months and they would start work shortly. The engineers would look into the remediation work in 694 active factories inspected under national initiative and the units handed over by western buyers’ platforms Alliance and Accord, he said. Following the Rana Plaza building collapse in April, 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, a total of 3,780 garment factories were assessed under three initiatives — European retailers’ platform Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, North American buyers’ platform Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the government-led and ILO-supported national initiative. Out of the 3,780 garment factories, 1,549 were inspected under the national initiative. Of the units, 573 were closed down, 79 were relocated and 130 units were shifted to the Accord and Alliance lists. The Alliance left Bangladesh in 2018 with almost 100 per cent remediation in its inspected factories. Nearly 700 RMG factories inspected and remediated by the Alliance would also be monitored by the RCC. The Accord is still in operation in the country as court extended its tenure and the platform completed 90 per cent remediation in its inspected factories. More than 200 factories which were handed over by the initiative to the RCC and faced business relation termination would also be monitored by the cell.
