The move can be seen as ‘penny wise, pound foolish.’ As in April last year, we have just seen the announcement of opening export-oriented factories this year too, without ensuring vehicular movements or any instructions in this regard during the ongoing lockdown.
The government said the strict restrictions, which began on July 23, would last until midnight on August 5. Public and private offices, factories, public transports and in fact everything would be closed during this time. People would have to stay where they had been before the imposition of restrictions. But suddenly on July 30, the Cabinet announced that the export-oriented factories would be opened on August 1. As a result, the workers of the sector concerned suffered a lot while getting back to work. Since the government’s announcement, the workers in large masses left for their workplaces in any way they could. As public transports were not running, they went to workplaces by rickshaws, vans, three-wheelers, and trucks-mini trucks. For this reason, they had to pay 10-12 times extra. In different places, including Rangpur, many workers even staged protests demanding transport. Most of the workers live in villages, far away from the workplace. Now, it is cruel to ask them to go back to work in just one day. In this regard, the explanation by the state minister for public administration on Saturday is also not acceptable. If the owners had promised to open factories on August 1 with the workers staying around the factories, why didn’t the government inform everyone about it?
Now, who will bear the liabilities of the indecision, carelessness and in-coordination shown by the concerned administration of the government at these critical hours? It seems now that there had been no meaning of imposing such half-strict and completely-relaxed restrictions. This will not curb the spread of infections. Public health experts recommended that the ban should be extended for two more weeks after the 14-day ban expired on July 14. The advice was ignored and everything was opened for eight days before Eid-ul-Azha. If the government had to open the factories on August 1, it could have made the announcement earlier. At least, workers could have taken necessary preparations, and the unexpected wave of crowds and miseries of workers could have been avoided. Even after a meeting with traders on July 27, policymakers said the factories would remain shut. The announcement to open the factories came only three days after that meeting.
In this case, the factory owners also have responsibilities. They seem to be worried about their ‘buying orders’ as much as they are indifferent to the problems of the workers. Yes, owners can keep their factories open for the sake of overseas buying orders, but they cannot put workers’ lives at risk. Who will take the responsibility if any of the thousands of workers, who came back en masse, are infected? The same thing happened during the last Eid-ul-Fitr. It is not desirable that the workers suffer in this way and their lives are at risk due to the indiscretion of the administration and the owners.
Deaths and infections are breaking records every day. About two hundred people are dying in Covid-19 every day for two weeks in a row. Hence, proper planning is important to prevent the spread of the virus. On April 4-5 last year, low-income people walked hundreds of kilometres to the factories but only found that the factories were declared closed again. They had to walk back home again. This time, the workers returned to work after enduring indescribable hardship to save their jobs. The announcement of opening factories in so short a period put the workers in this predicament, which is not desirable.
