Strict lockdown in BD: Brands don’t foresee any threat to source

Although the govt. of Bangladesh imposed a lockdown to curb the contagious delta variant cases that have rattled India, but the readymade garment (RMG) and textile industry is exempt from the lockdown. Garment owners’ associations’ leaders have said that the RMG factories will remain open under special measures even if a strict lockdown is enforced.
Most notably the infection rate in the garment industry was too low as owners had taken a lot of safety measures as per the WHO, ILO and government’s guidelines.
The textile and apparel sector leaders explained that anarchy could arise if the factories were closed at the moment. Besides, 90% of the RMG workers live within the vicinity of their factories. There is less movement of people in the industry.

Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA said Textile Today, “People go to their hometowns on holidays during the lockdown, increasing contamination of Covid.” So, both Presidents persuaded the government to open the factory during the lockdown.
While Mohammad Ali Khokon, President of BTMA said, “Most of the workers live near the factory and within the short distance employees get transportation from the factory.” There is less movement of people in the industry.

Faruque Hassan suggested keeping workers in the discipline. Eventually, it will lessen the rate of infection.

Workers’ health safety

On top of it, to ensure workers’ health safety, Faruque Hassan said, “BGMEA has set up three PCR labs for testing RMG workers at two in Dhaka and one in Chittagong.”

From brands perspective, several brands ensured that they are at ease sourcing from here and are not expecting any bottleneck due to the lockdown.