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Dhaka: <keyword id="19919639" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bangladesh" source="keywords">Bangladesh</keyword>'s garment industry, a vital economic pillar, is facing a severe crisis due to a volatile mix of <keyword id="20444027" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="political-unrest" source="keywords">political unrest</keyword>, including violent protests, and catastrophic flooding, threatening to unravel years of rapid growth and global prominence. The textile and garment industry, which accounts for over 80 per cent of Bangladesh's total export earnings and contributes approximately 11 per cent to the nation's GDP, has been hit hard. This industry contributes significantly to export earnings and employs millions. Following the unprecedented anti-government protests, which reached a crescendo on August 5, Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country. She landed in India on August 5 and is currently staying there. The two-month-long anti-quota protests have led to widespread demonstrations, curfews, and violence. This unrest has not only disrupted factory operations but has also caused significant economic losses. Factories were forced to close, and with the peak season for Christmas shipments and the booking of next season's orders upon us, the timing of the unrest has exacerbated the crisis. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (<keyword id="22930680" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BGMEA" source="keywords">BGMEA</keyword>) recently has reported substantial financial losses, estimating a shortfall of Tk 6,400 crore (approx Rs 4,500 crore) due to the shutdowns and communication breakdowns. Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, the newly elected president of the BGMEA, mentioned that the goal of reaching nearly USD 45 billion in exports this year may not be achieved. He attributed this to disruptions in both export activities and production. "I think this is a temporary crisis and we will tide over it. The exact magnitude of the losses will be known later, but yes, there has been an impact," he told PTI. Echoing similar sentiments, former cabinet minister and president of BGMEA, Gholam Sarwar Milon, said the garment industry has been badly hit by both the political unrest and the floods, as both production and the supply chain of raw materials have been severely affected. "The crisis in the garment industry is unprecedented. Production is nearly 15-20 per cent less than the corresponding period last year. Several orders have dried up as investors and order suppliers are wary about investing. Several small factories have either closed down or are working on sub-contracts for big factories," he told PTI. According to BGMEA sources, out of 3,000 major and small garment factories in Bangladesh, nearly 800-900 have closed since last year. "The big factories have survived, but the small and medium factories have borne the brunt. If the situation persists, it will worsen further," he said. Milon suggested that the garment industry needs to diversify into making jute bags and other high-end clothing and also look for new markets. The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association has projected losses of around USD 58 million. The impact on the industry is compounded by the recent flooding, which has further disrupted logistics and exacerbated the economic fallout. Bangladesh's main port, Chattogram, through which more than 90 per cent of the country's international trade transits, has become a focal point of the chaos. The port's operations were paralysed during the political unrest, leading to significant delays in shipments. Factories have struggled to maintain production schedules, and backlogs at ports and airports have stretched to a month in some cases. To mitigate the damage, factories have turned to air freight and extended working hours, but these measures have not fully alleviated the delays. The president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Mohammad Hatem, said orders are down by 15-20 per cent. "The industry has incurred huge losses in the last few months. In 2014, during political unrest, we suffered a similar situation. It then took us three years to return to the previous state. We hope to tide over the situation soon as Chief Advisor <keyword id="20024384" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="muhammad-yunus" source="keywords">Muhammad Yunus</keyword> is taking several steps to restore normalcy," he told PTI. Hatem feels that if the situation is not overcome soon, there is a growing perception that foreign investors might look at new markets in other South Asian nations. "However, other South Asian markets don't have the infrastructure like Bangladesh, which has such huge production capacity," he said. The garment industry's workforce, which employs over 4 million people directly and nearly 15 million indirectly, with a significant proportion of women, faces mounting uncertainty. The sector's remarkable growth over the past two decades-from USD 5 billion in exports in 2001 to nearly USD 40 billion in 2023-now stands at risk. The floods have compounded the challenges, causing damage to infrastructure and further complicating logistics. Monsoon rainfall-triggered floods in deltaic Bangladesh and upstream Indian regions have killed several people and marooned or affected nearly 3 million others in Bangladesh, posing a huge administrative challenge to the newly installed interim government amid a political transition. "Due to the floods, the supply chain has been badly affected. We reached a high in 2023-24 where our garment exports touched around USD 46 billion. This time it is likely to be much less," said former army major and owner of a woollen garment factory, Mahfuzur Rehman. The sector's growth from a small-scale operation in the early 1980s to becoming the world's second-largest apparel exporter, after China, underscores its strength. In the financial year 2009, Bangladesh's apparel exports were valued at USD 12 billion. By the financial year 2023-24, this figure had surged to over USD 46 billion, reflecting the industry's capacity for recovery and growth even amid adversity. In response to the crisis, the interim government, now led by Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, has prioritised restoring order and stability. According to garment industry insiders, the path to recovery is fraught with challenges as the political instability has undermined investor confidence, and the recent flooding has further strained the already fragile infrastructure. "The sector's resilience will be tested as it attempts to regain its footing and restore its reputation as a reliable global supplier," a garment industry owner, who did not wish to be named, said. He added that despite the current crisis, Bangladesh's textile and garment industry has shown great strength and the ability to recover in the past.

Bangladesh garment industry faces crisis amid political unrest and floods

<keyword id="19936600" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dhaka" source="keywords">Dhaka</keyword>: A top police official in <keyword id="19919639" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bangladesh" source="keywords">Bangladesh</keyword> has called on every member of the police force to resume their duties gradually and maintain <keyword id="20384229" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-safety" source="keywords">public safety</keyword> and law and order amidst reports of attacks on the law enforcement authorities in the violence-hit nation. Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) A.K.M. Shahidur Rahman, who was appointed as the focal person of the <keyword id="20089848" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bangladesh-police" source="keywords">Bangladesh Police</keyword> on Tuesday to handle the current crisis, asked his force to ignore rumours. "The police are friends of the people and work for the public. We cannot imagine a society without the police. Therefore, I request our police members once again to ignore rumours and return to their duties in a phased manner, ensuring that security arrangements are properly in place," he said, emphasising the crucial role of the police in maintaining public safety. Most <keyword id="20117995" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="police-stations" source="keywords">police stations</keyword> in the country, including the capital Dhaka, currently have no police personnel present, the Dhaka Tribune reported. Multiple police officers have reported that over four hundred police stations across the country have experienced attacks, vandalism, arson, and looting. In this situation, no one feels safe staying in their respective stations or offices, leading everyone to seek safe shelters. A police headquarters official mentioned that the police have not faced such a situation since 1971, the report said. In many places, clashes broke out between the police and agitated mobs. Consequently, law enforcement officers vacated various stations overnight. After the attack on the police headquarters on Monday night, senior officials were evacuated to safety by helicopter. Many climbed over walls to escape the headquarters. Law enforcement broke down in Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on Monday, with police absent from their duty to keep law and order or manage traffic, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported on Tuesday. Since Monday afternoon, the police presence in urban areas dwindled, and by Tuesday, the breakdown of the police system was evident throughout the country. Attacks on police stations and facilities across the country, resulting in numerous police casualties, have led to this unprecedented situation, the newspaper reported. As the army took charge following Hasina's ouster and the death toll in the violence in which temples were also attacked rose to 440, President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved Parliament on Tuesday and appointed 84-year-old Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the head of an upcoming interim government. Meanwhile, the readymade garment (RMG) and textile factories across the country will reopen on Wednesday, the paper said. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the apex trade body of the country's RMG manufacturers, urged its members to open their factories on Wednesday. BGMEA Director Mohiuddin Rubel, a participant at the meeting, told the paper that they were going to reopen their factories for the betterment of the country's economy and workers. In a separate statement, Sulov Chowdhury, CEO of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), urged its members to reopen their factories as there is an announcement to keep industrial units open in the present context. However, considering the current situation, he also urged the BKMEA member factories to ensure the overall safety of the factories, along with their workers.

Bangladesh's top police official urges policemen to resume their duties and maintain public safety

<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="AP" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/517863216bb3f7d36c000009-960/bangladesh%20factory%20collapse.jpg"></a></div>AP</div> DHAKA, <keyword id="6354759" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</keyword> (AP) — Hundreds of survivors of last month's collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh protested for compensation Tuesday, as the death toll from the country's worst-ever industrial disaster passed 700.
The police control room overseeing the recovery operation said the death toll stood at 705 on Tuesday afternoon as workers pulled more bodies out of the wreckage of the eight-story building that was packed with workers at five garment factories when it collapsed on April 24. The factories were making clothing bound for major retailers around the world.
The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, surpassing the 1911 garment disaster in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory, which killed 146 workers, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that killed 112, also in 2012. It is also one of the deadliest industrial accidents ever.
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="AP" title_caption="Relatives identify the dead." class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51793be4ecad047e0b00000f-960/ap494457951671.jpg"></a></div>APRelatives identify the dead.</div> No one knows what the final toll will be, as the exact number of people inside Rana Plaza at the time of the collapse was unknown. More than 2,500 people were rescued alive.
Hundreds of garment workers who survived the disaster blocked a major highway near the accident site in a Dhaka suburb on Tuesday to demand the payment of wages and other benefits. No violence was reported, although traffic was disrupted for hours.
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="REUTERS/Andrew Biraj " title_caption="Finding survivors." class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/517ac70269bedd4f4700000d-960/rtxz109.jpg"></a></div>REUTERS/Andrew Biraj Finding survivors.</div> Local government administrator Yousuf Harun said they are working with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to ensure the workers get paid.
The workers, many who made little more than the national minimum wage of about $38 per month, are demanding at least four months in salary. The workers had set Tuesday as the deadline for the payment of wages and other benefits.
Harun said no salary remained unpaid except for the month of April and there was an agreement for the workers to receive an additional three months of pay. After a team from the BGMEA arrived at the protest and pledged to make the payment later Tuesday, the workers left the highway, Harun said.
The BGMEA had said Monday that it was preparing a "complete list" of the workers employed in the factories and they would need a few more days to finish it and to clear the salary.
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="REUTERS/Andrew Biraj " title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5178fbfb6bb3f7210c000010-960/bangladesh-collapse.jpg"></a></div>REUTERS/Andrew Biraj </div> Bangladesh earns nearly $20 billion a year from exports of the garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Authorities have not set any specific timeframe to complete the recovery operation at the building site, saying they will continue until all bodies and debris are removed.
Officials say the building's owner illegally added three floors to Rana Plaza and allowed the garment factories to install heavy machines and generators.
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705 Now Dead In Worst-Ever Factory Disaster - And The Survivors Haven't Been Paid 

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Bangladesh garment industry faces crisis amid political unrest and floods

PTI

Bangladesh's top police official urges policemen to resume their duties and maintain public safety

PTI

705 Now Dead In Worst-Ever Factory Disaster - And The Survivors Haven't Been Paid

Julhas Alam, AP

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