The factory where 112 garment workers died in a fire should have been shut down months ago. The fire department refused to renew the certification it needed to operate, a top fire official has said.
Its owner told The Associated Press that just three of the factory’s eight floors were legal. He was building a ninth. Government officials knew of the problems, but the factory just kept running.
The Capital Development Authority could have fined Tazreen Fashions Ltd or even pushed for the demolition of illegally built portions of the building, said an agency official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media. But it chose to do nothing, rather than confront one of Bangladesh’s most powerful industries, he said.
“I must say we have our weaknesses. We could not do that,” he said. “Not only Tazreen. There are hundreds more buildings. That’s the truth.”
Bangladesh’s $20 billion-a-year garment industry, which accounts for 80 per cent of Bangladesh’s total export earnings, goes virtually unchallenged by the Government, said Kalpona Akter, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, a labour rights group.
“These factories should be shut down, but who will do that?” she said. “Any good Government inspector who wants to act tough against such rogue factories would be removed from office. Who will take that risk?”
Fire officials did challenge the factory, though they appeared reluctant to go too far.
When the factory’s fire safety certification expired June 30, Dhaka’s fire authorities refused to renew it, a fire official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
A factory must be certified to operate, but the department usually gives factory owners some time to upgrade conditions.
If they fail to do so, the department can file a court case to get it closed down. But it rarely does, and did not in Tazreen’s case.
“These factories should be closed, but it is not an easy task,” the fire official said. “We need to follow a protracted legal battle. Always there is pressure because the owners are influential. They can manage everything.”
The November 24 fire tore through the ground floor of the behemoth white, concrete factory, which fills most of a block in the Dhaka suburb of Savar. About 1,400 employees were cutting fabric and sewing clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other Western brands.
Dipa Akter had no idea she was in any danger during the three years she worked at the Tazreen factory.
“We never thought such a big fire could happen at Tazreen. We thought there would be no problem if there was a fire. There are three stairways ... we never thought our colleagues would die this way,” she said.