The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) is contemplating a revival of biometric database of garment workers. The BGMEA had taken the initiative of preparing a biometric database of workers and signed a memoranda of understanding (MoU) with two IT farms: Systech and Tiger IT, after the Tazreen Fashions fire in November 2012 that killed 112 garment workers.
Atiqul Islam, who was the BGMEA President when the Rana Plaza tragedy happened, where 1,100 people, mostly garment workers lost their lives, has asked BGMEA member factories to prepare a biometric database of their workers. On May 20, 2013, he instructed factory owners in Ashulia to complete biometric database of their workers by August 30 that year.
The factory owners showed little response though the BGMEA announced that biometric database of workers was mandatory. Only 300 factories had registered with the BGMEA for the service while 250 factories had full-fledged work going on that covered a totally 1,50,000 workers up to March 2014. Factory owners expressed their unwillingness to introduce biometric database, citing political turmoil and pressure from buyers to meet safety requirements as reasons.
Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, Vice-President, BGMEA said that they would be signing the new MoU this week with Tiger IT and Systech Digital Ltd to revive the biometric capture of the RMG workers. The work of biometric database would start from mid-February 2016 targeting the completion of biometric capture of workers in 2,000 factories by June 2016, according to the agreement, he added.
