Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged the government to take immediate steps to fix the inoperative explosive detection systems (EDS) at HazratShahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
The association also called for increasing the number of scanners to speed up the process of scanning export cargoes.
A delegation of BGMEA led by President Faruque Hassan made the request to Md. MokammelHossain, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, during a meeting at the secretariat in Dhaka on October 10, a press release said.
BGMEA Vice President ShahidullahAzim, Vice President (Finance) KhandokerRafiqul Islam, Vice President Md. NasirUddin and Dr. Abu SalehMostafa Kamal, Managing Director, Biman Bangladesh Airlines were also present at the meeting.
RMG exports are being hampered as two EDS machines have remained out of service while another two newly installed EDS machines in the airport could be made operational as they are yet to get validated.
BGMEA leaders stressed on regularly carrying out maintenance of the EDS in order to keep them operational as the scanning process is hampered very often due to technical glitches.
They also requested the authorities to ensure enough space at the scanning area so that export cargoes could be scanned in an orderly manner and shipped timely. Besides, a spacious parking lot is needed to keep the export freight after scanning for air shipment.
They delegation called on bringing RMG goods inside the cargo village or canopy immediately after unloading from aircraft so that they are not damaged due to rain.
BGMEA leaders requested for taking steps to properly stack RMG goods in the cargo shed in proper order so that cargoes can be found out easily and released quickly.