Labor is 'cheap' indeed in Bangladesh

7 killed in RMG factory fire  At least seven workers were killed and 20 others injured as a garment factory went up in flames in the capital’s Mohammadpur area Saturday, in a recurrence of such tragedy when the trauma of terrible Ashulia incident is yet to be healed.

The dead were identified as Joshna, 20, Hasina, 24, Razia, 15, Kuhinur, 15, Nasima, 30, Nasima, 26, and Laizu, 16.

Firefighters and locals apprehended the casualty figure could rise further as a number of those wounded remained in critical condition.

Around 150 workers burnt to death, many of them beyond recognition, in a terrible factory fire in the apparel hub of Ashulia area on the outskirts of the capital on November 24.

With the Smart Fashions Garment fire, three factory fires occurred in and around the capital in the single day. Earlier in the day, a jute-factory godown was burnt down in Siddirganj under Narayanganj while a furniture factor was gutted in the city’s Vatara area.

In an apparent coincidence, a pavilion collapsed in the ongoing Dhaka International Trade Fair, leaving one dead and a few injured.

The incidents handed the owners huge amounts of monetary losses, apart from the loss of life and property.

Fire-brigade sources said the fire broke out on the first floor of a two-storey building that housed the factory Smart Fashions Garment in Beribadh (cross-dam) area of Mohammadpur.

The fire originated around 2:40pm from an electric short circuit, leaving at least 27 workers injured critically, they added.

“On information, eight firefighting units from Mohammadpur and Mirpur headquarters rushed to the spot and tried their best to douse the flames. Eventually the firefighters brought the fire under control about 4:00pm,” says a spot account of the incident.

The sources said two fire-service vehicles reached the spot immediately, but its water tanks were empty before arrival of other firefighting units.

“At one stage, the firefighters started looking for water at different houses adjacent to the factory, but the local residents did not provide them with water,” says the firsthand description of the rescue operation.

Later, the firefighters went to a nearby canal and fetched water to douse the flames.

After bringing the fire under control, firemen rescued the victims from the factory and sent them to different hospitals.

Of them, seven succumbed to their injuries at Shikder Medical College Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The injured were undergoing treatment at different city hospitals and some of them were in critical state, sources said.

A four-member probe committee led by Bharat Chandra Biswas, deputy director of fire service and civil defence, was formed to investigate the reasons behind the fire, an official concerned said.

“The extent of loss caused by the fire could not be known immediately,” the official added.

State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak visited the spot soon after the fire incident.  ********************************************************************************* After the horrendous roasting of 111 female workers in Tajrin garments in Ashulia, we now have another 7 dead in Mohammadpur. The same poor unfortunate female garments workers and the same story of gates locked when the fire started.The BGMEA thrives on the sweat of these cheap labor forces, but still they aren't doing much to protect them from all possibilities of accidents. And the defaulters, who aren't complient with the safety regulations, haven't been penalized, certainly not in the case if Tajrin garments. This legacy of not taking proper steps to safeguard garments workers and walking away clean-handed even after an accident of any magnitude takes place, is to continue with the latest case as well. In sum, labor is practically and 'consequently' cheap in Bangladesh for sure, with no accountability anywhere, not with BGMEA or with the government (remember, a sizeable number of MP's we have in the present parliament happens to be businessmen!)No wonder BGMEA would protect the owner and the responsible persons, and be an accomplice in the affair: its their very physical base that's grounded unlawfully and illegally (the BGMEA building built in the middle of Hatirjheel project). This institution is an embodiment of corruption and evil.        *********************************************************************************          

Swindlers gobble up Tk 350cr

2nd January, 2013

 

ACC files 26 cases against 35 officials of Sonali Bank, Hall-Mark and five other companies

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed 26 cases against 17 top officials of state-run Sonali Bank, 16 others of five business entities and two bosses of Hall-Mark Group over misappropriation of around Tk 350 crore depositors' money.
The five firms and Hall-Mark swindled a total of Tk 3,547 crore from Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch between October 2011 and May last year.
Of the amount, Hall-Mark alone got Tk 2,686 crore.
T & Brothers embezzled Tk 317.52 crore, Paragon Knit Composite Ltd Tk 13.58 crore, DN Sports Tk 2.81 crore, Nakshi Knit and Composite Ltd Tk 10.81 crore and Khanjahan Ali Sweater Ltd Tk 1.14 crore.
In the cases, Hall-Mark Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud and General Manager Tushar Ahmed face charges of abetting Paragon and Nakshi respectively. Both were detained earlier in connection with the scam.
"These were not loans,” ACC Deputy Director Mir Md Zainul Abedin Shibly told reporters at a press brief in ACC headquarters yesterday. “These were misappropriations through forged documents in collaboration with some bank officials.”
He said the swindlers prepared fake documents to open letter of credit and inland bill purchase and drew the money without doing any business.
The cases are dealing with the embezzlement of Tk 350.37 crore funded money or the portion disbursed in cash, Shibly added.

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I'm kind of tempted to think these clever 'swindlers' only showed us the way 'forward'. Soon we'll find doctors drawing blood from the patients that go to visit them, teachers raping and robbing students in lieu of some extra marks, lawyers, in the middle of the case, demanding bundles of money just to continue the case or work secretly against their own clients etc.

What we are facing now is the crises of trust and professional honesty. People are getting encouraged to exploit the system because:

1. They see before them all the high-ups succumbing to bribery and dishonesty of all kinds. They also witness political leaders striking deals that would harm the interest of the country but bring money to their pockets. They observe, from the kitchen market to the supermalls, goods and services being monopolized by companies and people who, in turn, had previously done the same with the government machinery.

2. They also understand that if a thief enters a house at the dead end of the night and steals 10 thousand taka, he can be found out, put to trial and sentenced to proper judgment in due course of time. But if a person manages to steal from a bank, in broad daylight, 2686 crore taka and spends 1% of his money, he can finally get away with the rest.

These two areas of thought are increasingly encouraging people to take up dishonest means, if not for living, then for just making money and joining the league of the rich and the wealthy.

What we have to do and what we need to do is unknown. Protests are not enough so it seems so far. Our political leaders are busy quarreling over the modus operandi of election. They are primarily and chiefly concerned with it because it is related to the question of going to 'power'. They don't have time or inclination to work for the interest of the people and the country. So that probably means that clearly they are not doing their job (working for the betterment of the country) and instead usurping the trust put on them by the people by:

1. Making fortunes through corruption of established and novel kinds.

2. Oppressing and suppressing other close contenders of 'power' so that they would be the only 'suitable' option for the next election.

3. Populating all key positions of the State machinery with their own supporters, sacrificing eligible candidacy and quality of manpower in the statecraft, so that with or without being in 'power', they can still benefit from it and continue to reap the harvest.

Clearly, this is the game-plan. 

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