Govt planning to form new agency for factory compliance: Salman F Rahman

Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman has said the government is planning for setting up a separate agency comprising all parties concerned to ensure fire, building structure and environmental compliance of all industrial plants in the country. 

If the existing law needs to be amended for this, it will be done, he said at a virtual press conference. 

The government has formed a committee headed by Salman F Rahman to ensure compliance in the country's factories and commercial establishments. The virtual press conference was organised to inform about the activities of that committee.

He said responsible institutions give inspection report for compliance, but there is no enforcement. 

The committee has been formed by the decision of the Prime Minister which will give a quick report after reviewing the current labour situation and legal issues of the factories in the country. Further initiatives will be taken on this basis, said PM's adviser. 

He said though the fire at Hashem Foods in Narayanganj did not directly affect global image, but there is indirect impact. The New York Times has published an editorial on the incident. 

Secretary of the Security Services Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment KM Abdus Salam, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Sirazul Islam, FBCCI President Md. Jashim Uddin, among others, spoke at the press conference.