Garment Industry Passing Through Hard Times, Jamaat Amir Urges Swift Sustainable Government Action
The garment industry, the country's main export sector, is passing through a difficult period, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Amir and opposition leader Dr Shafiqur Rahman has said. He said the ongoing unrest in the sector is very worrying.
He made the remarks in a status posted on the social media platform Facebook on Sunday evening (1 November).
The Jamaat Amir said, "Because of the government's failure to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply, the high price of fuel, rising production costs, uncertainty for this sector in the world market, and purchase orders being cancelled, withdrawn or not arriving as before, the readymade garment sector is truly going through a hard time."
On the other hand, he said, the lives of the workforce employed in this industry are also facing a severe crisis because of house rent, the rising prices of daily essentials, transport costs and medical expenses.
To keep this main export sector alive, the government must quickly take sustainable steps to remove the problems that have pushed the sector into this difficult situation, he commented.
Dr Shafiqur Rahman said, "If uninterrupted electricity supply can be ensured and the pace of production increased, then all these problems can be taken into logical consideration and solved."
He said, "If industry survives, not only the owners will survive, the country will survive too. So the government must play a responsible role in saving both the industrial entrepreneurs and the workforce employed in industry."
The Jamaat Amir sincerely called on all sides to show restraint and a sense of responsibility from their respective positions.
The opposition leader warned, "Any failure in this regard will take the country's already fragile economy to the very brink of destruction. There is no scope at all for wasting time here."
