Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association yesterday took charge of 300 orphans, who lost their parents in the Rana Plaza collapse on April 24.
The trade body handed over 10 of the orphans to ORCA Homes, an initiative of Old Rajshahi Cadets Association, at a programme at the BGMEA office in Dhaka to mark 100 days of the deadliest accident.
“We will rehabilitate the rest of the orphans in phases,” BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said.
ORCA Homes will educate the orphans up to class 10 and then provide vocational training to make them ready for the job market, Islam said.
The trade body plans to offer jobs to 1,107 survivors in different garment factories, while seven workers got appointment letters at the programme.
The BGMEA also handed over a cheque for Tk 10 lakh to Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence for the extraordinary performance of its staff members in the rescue operations.
Islam in a statement said, after the Rana Plaza collapse, an expert panel of the trade body, comprising 10 engineers, inspected structural designs of 524 garment factories in Dhaka and 105 in Chittagong. Upon inspection, the BGMEA closed 16 factories in the capital and four in the port city due to structural flaws in the buildings.
In a survey, conducted after the collapse, the trade body found that the number of purpose-made buildings both in Dhaka and Chittagong was 846, shared buildings 462 and converted buildings 236.
Purpose-made buildings are for setting up factories only, while the shared buildings can be used for other purposes, and buildings constructed for residential purposes and later turned into factories are the converted ones.
Jahangir Kabir Nanak, state minister for Local Government, Rural Development & Co-operatives, said the government will confiscate the land where the Rana Plaza was built and construct structures there for the victims.
A vested quarter is conspiring to destroy the garment sector of the country as well as its economy, Nanak said. The government has already allocated 550 acres of land to construct a ‘Garment Palli’ at Bausia in Munshiganj to relocate the garment factories there, he added.
Nanak also said a total of Tk 17.50 crore has so far been given to the relatives of the dead victims from the Prime Minister’s relief fund.
Dr Md Enamur Rahman, chairman of Savar-based Enam Medical College and Hospital, where a total of 1,746 victims received treatment, and Nazma Akter, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, a platform of workers, also spoke.