Housing for garment workers
THE deal between the central bank and the BGMEA to finance low-cost housing facilities for garment workers is a right step towards addressing a problem, which has been long overdue.
It is regrettable that the garment workers, whose hard labour brings a very large chunk of our hard currency, live in extreme squalor in the city slums as their employers cannot provide them with decent living quarters. And even these squalid shanties eat up a large portion, around 13 per cent, of their wages as house rent. Worse yet, any general increase in their wage is offset by about a simultaneous hike in the monthly rents of those slum hovels. Hopefully, the move to build low-priced dormitories will go a long way towards ending the RMG workers' suffering.
As the report goes, the central bank will cover 60 per cent of the costs for building the dormitories, while the factory owners will bear the rest 40 per cent. Thankfully, arrangements are also learnt to be in place to provide government land at a nominal price to the factory owners for building the workers' hostels.
While commending the move, we would like to add a cautionary note. It is that utmost care has to be taken to ensure that the fund and the land to be so organised to solve garment workers' housing problem reach the right people and are not misused by any vested quarters. Also, the arrangement shouldn't be a symbolic one, but should be able to resolve the housing problem of the majority of the garment workers.
Comments