(RDMA), will surely augment the image of garments industry in Bangladesh and will help to
brand Bangladesh.
Building Safety
Regarding the housing of heavy duty RMG industry with less costly building is also a cause of
concern for future collapse like Rana Plaza, which was the second highest building collapse
related disaster after the World Trade Centre in September 11. All the seven factories in Rana
Plaza has all sorts of compliance secured by the BGMEA, Factory Inspection Department,
Directorate of Environment, Fire Service Department, by the except the building related one. The
Comprehensive Disaster Management Program found that there are 78,000 risky buildings which
will be collapsed if an earthquake with 6 magnitude hits. DEFI and Fire Service have identified
943 unsafe factories out of 3,143 they visited and out of 943 buildings 150 are extremely risky
which should be demolished or otherwise they may collapse at any time. 60 Nobel Laureate
Professor Yunus in support of the Garments Industry Transparency Initiative (GITI) and Happy
Workers Tag has suggested for the betterment of workers’ rights to heel the industry in the days
ahead.
So factory owners must follow building code strictly. Those who will not follow it must be
punished severely. As this labour intensive industry, there must be a ‘Special Approval Authority
(SAA)’. All members of this team must be expert and factors like earthquake must be
considered.
Housing
Most young men and women who work in Bangladesh's garments industry live in the urban
slums mushrooming around the industrial areas of major cities including Dhaka, Gazipur,
Narayangang, Narshindi, Chittagong etc. Local gangs control the housing, so the women become
prey to slumlords who charge exorbitant rents, equal to about one-third the women's income. The
60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D5UXCEOrNk, Published on Oct 29, 2013