DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim government has said it will not bail out garment factories linked to a senior ally of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina, a move set to throw thousands out of work.
Beximco, the South Asian nation’s largest conglomerate, operates more than a dozen garment factories collectively employing more than 40,000 people in Bangladesh’s key export industry.
Its detained co-founder Salman F. Rahman was a close adviser to Hasina, who fled the country in August following the student-led revolution that toppled her government.
Work at Beximco’s factories has since ground to a halt and employees have staged protests demanding the caretaker government come to their rescue.
“We have no other option but to fully shut down the factories as the government cannot manage them,” Sakhawat Hossain, the interim government’s labour minister, told a news conference late on Thursday.
“The workers’ request to nationalise the factories is also not feasible,” he said, urging workers to seek employment elsewhere.
The government has blamed Beximco’s monumental unpaid loan balance as the reason behind its refusal to take over the conglomerate.
Bangladesh’s central bank has valued the firm’s outstanding loans and liabilities at more than $4.1 billion.
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“The government considered resuming operations at the factories, viewing them as national assets with significant involvement in employment and exports,” commerce minister Sheikh Bashir Uddin told reporters.
“Despite the substantial amount of defaulted loans, we approached the issue with compassion. However, we have not received sufficient cooperation from the owners.”
Rahman was taken into custody shortly after Hasina fled to neighbouring India, where she has remained since her ouster.
Abdul Qaiyum, a senior officer of the Beximco Industrial Park, said the conglomerate’s bank accounts had been frozen, preventing work at the factories.
“We need some loans,” he told AFP.
Beximco had requested a bridging loan of around $33 million to continue operating, according to Bangladeshi newspaper reports.
Workers at the firm’s factories took to the streets on Wednesday to demand the government help save their jobs, vandalising numerous vehicles in their protest.
Sakhawat said the government had paid the salaries of Beximco workers up to the end of December and would ensure they receive other benefits.
“Those involved in vandalism will face consequences,” he said.
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