MOSCOW, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - The foreign minister of Bangladesh said the government does everything possible to improve labor safety regulations in the country’s $20 billion garment industry, but the problem could not be solved “overnight,” Al Jazeera reported.
The European Union voiced its concern on Wednesday over labor safety regulations in Bangladesh following the recent collapse of an industrial building that killed hundreds of people.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said that since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's government came to power in 2009 the authorities were taking “very stern action” in regard to all owners of building and factories, who failed to comply with laws and construction codes.
“We have been working on improving labor standards; we have been working on improving safety conditions in workplaces; and we have been doing it in collaboration with the owners of the factories, with labor organizations and with international organizations,” she was quoted as saying.
At least 3,000 people were working in garment factories in the nine-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar, an industrial suburb of Dhaka, when it caved last week on Wednesday killing over 400 people.
The building reportedly housed at least five garment factories and some 300 shops that employed nearly 6,000 people in total. Survivors of the tragedy said earlier they were afraid to enter the building when cracks appeared in supporting structures last week on Tuesday. Shops and banks were reportedly closed for safety reasons on the same day, but garment factory workers were forced to return to their workplaces.
The owner of the Rana Plaza building was arrested on charges of using second-rate materials in the construction of the facility that was put in operation in 2006. Three owners and top executives of garment factories housed in the Rana Plaza were also arrested on charges of negligence.
