July 1 to August 5. The entire country, including the capital Dhaka, was in turmoil in the mass movement of students. At that time, students-crowd clashed with the police turned into violence. The country faced huge losses due to vandalism and arson of public and private offices and important structures. Import and export import was totally stalled. Production in the garment industry in particular was disrupted. The crisis in this sector, which is plagued with various problems including the increase in import costs due to the dollar crisis, has intensified. Although this sector has great potential for the economy, which is running on little incentives from the government, any disruption will have a direct impact on the garment industry. However, the question has arisen - why the garment industry has repeatedly suffered?
Economists say that the life of the economy is the garment sector. Whenever there is any kind of crisis, it affects the garment sector. One of the reasons for this is that this sector is dependent on workers. Attacking the clothing sector creates big problems in the economy, so many people want to use this opportunity. But there may be hands in foreign countries here. Because other countries will want to take advantage of this sector by creating chaos; This is normal.
If asked, Jagannath University economics department professor and general secretary of Bangladesh Economics Association. Md. Ainul Islam told The South Asian Times, "As the garment sector is a promising sector, everyone will be paying attention to this sector. Especially if chaos is created in this sector, pressure can be created on the economy. So many people want to use this opportunity. Another thing is that there are people in political positions in garment industry or mass industries. I think they are basically opportunists.”
Dr. Md. Ainul Islam also said, "It is very important to restore order in the clothing sector. The moment we talk about this problem; we should be looking for a solution from this moment. Because, once foreign customers turn away from this sector, it will create long-term problems for us. We have to maintain the trust we have built on foreign customers so far. I say one thing again and again, this country is ours, the economy is ours, so everyone needs to think about the country. If there is a loss in the garment sector, it will not be a loss to any particular class but to the entire country.”
According to the information, there have been incidents of vandalism and fire in hundreds of industrial factories in different parts of the country in the last one month due to various reasons including labor dissatisfaction. At that time, the production and marketing process was stopped in more than two hundred factories. The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI) said that the industry has suffered a loss of around 5 thousand crore tk as a result. But the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) says that due to the closure of the factories, the garment sector has to face a financial loss of about 1,600 crores every day. From July 19 to August 15, production and export of garments was completely stopped for 10-12 days. Accordingly, in the ongoing crisis of the country, the loss of production in 10-12 days is about 19 and a half thousand crores. However, no organization related to the sector has an accurate estimate of the actual loss of the garment sector.
It has been found that after the last five August, the businessmen started trying to compensate the loss of the garment industry. However, there is a problem of worker dissatisfaction. At that time, after the fall of the government, the labor movement faced another big shock in the clothing sector. Unlike previous labor unrest, this unrest had no fixed cause. BGMEA took various initiatives to resolve the workers' dissatisfaction. Meetings were held with the factory owners, labor leaders and senior officials of the administration. Besides, a coordination meeting was held with local political leaders. Also, discussion meetings were organized with the army, industrial police, intelligence agencies, factory owners. However, the organizations have to get a lot of speed to solve the issue. As there is no fixed reason for labor dissatisfaction, the sector concerned is looking at the issue as negative.
They say that after the fall of the government, a class of opportunistic people would emerge to take advantage of the Harilut. They are used as a shield by some politicians. Their main aim was to create unstable situation in the country for their own interests. Various attempts have been made to cripple this large sector of the economy by hiring people. Ensuring security in this sector has become imperative very soon. Also those responsible for creating chaos must be brought under exemplary punishment.
Director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Mohiuddin Rubel said, "If the production is disrupted repeatedly in the factory due to some incident, the buyers will lose confidence for a very natural reason. They are concerned. They want to know about the situation every moment. If they don't get the product as per the schedule, they are also forced to think of alternatives."
