Central fund provided export garment workers Tk18 crore in 6 months

The central fund has provided over Tk18.07 crore in the last six months to garments workers for treating "incurable diseases", injuries and providing higher education to their children.

Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Director General of the Central Fund Selina Akhter on Tuesday said the amount was given to workers of export oriented garments industry, while the funds were also disbursed to assist the families of 1,528 workers who died in the last six months (July-December, 2021).

Since its formation, the central fund -- used for workers' welfare -- has provided about Tk125.21 crore to about 9,500 workers and their families.

Of these, the families of 5,623 dead workers have been provided Tk112.01 crore as financial assistance.

Another Tk9.25 crore has been provided to 3,047 sick workers as medical assistance and Tk1.52 crore as education assistance to 763 workers for their children's education.

The central fund was set up in 2015 under the Ministry of Labour and Employment in accordance with the provisions of Section 232 (3) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006.

Since July 2017, 0.03% of the total export value of garment factories have been directly deposited to the central fund through the Bangladesh Bank. Its current cash balance with FDRs in various banks stands at around Tk214 crore.