Tazreen Fire Tragedy Report

Quick Analysis on The Fire Tragedy of Tazreen Garments Nischintapur, Savar, Ashulia

24th November, 2012 “Managers told us, „nothing happened.‟ The fire alarm had just gone out of order. Go back back to work. B ut we qui qui ckly u nde nderr stood that th ere was a f ir e. A s we we again ran .” f or th e exi t point, we found i t locked f rom out side, and and it was too late

Prepared by Subrata Banarjee Research Associate Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies- BILS House# 20, Road# 32 (Old) / 11(New), Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Fire Tragedy of Tazreen T azreen Garments

The Fire Tragedy of Tazreen Garments Date of Incident: 24th November, 2012 Place: Tazreen Garments, Ashulia, Savar “ Th ” ” Th e whole nation is mour n on t he deadly deadly in cident cident 1. Introduction

The readymade garment (RMG) sector plays a very significant role in the socio-economic development of Bangladesh with more than three million workers, mostly women employed in nearly 4,500 factories. Bangladesh is the world‟s biggest exporter of clothing after China, with garments making up 80 percent of its $24 billion annual exports. The garment factories of the country make clothes for brands, including Tesco, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Kohl‟s and Carrefour. By 1982, the country had 47 readymade garment factories. In three years the number rose to 587. 5 87. Now it has more than 4,000.1 Factory fires and tragic deaths of helpless garment workers is a regular phenomenon in Bangladesh. Each year, Bangladesh faces fire hazards in the garments sector, and it's frustrating, sad and astonishing to know that they have all been preventable fires. Despite repeated requests from concerned citizens who care, governments of past and present hardly took any practical actions to safe-guard the workers from this death trap. 2 There have been many garment-factory fires in Bangladesh since 1990; more than 400 people have died. But the tragedy in Tazreen Garments in Nischintapur, Savar in 24th November, 2012 was by far the deadliest one in Bangladesh. At least 112 workers died in the incident and over hundred people are injured. The reasons of the fire are the subject of investigation, but the firefighters put the blame for the tragedy on the lack of fire exits.3 2. Background of the Incident

Tazreen Fashion Ltd, a unit of Tuba Group at Nischintapur in Savar, is reported to be exporting knit items worth $35 million. A factory, which was set up only three years ago, with a sprawling 49,000 square feet equipped with twelve production lines, 1,200 workers, machinery strength of 650 sets, produces knitted polo po lo shirts, fancy fancy fleece jackets and basic t-shirts.4

1 2

A.N. M. Nurul Haque ,the Daily Sun,28th November, November, 2012 th Tariq Iqbal,The Daily Star,28 November, November, 2012

3

The Guardian,28th November,2012

4

Th3e Daily star,28th November,2012 Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies-BILS |

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i) Death of Past

At least 33 major fire incidents at garment factories occurred between 1990 and 2012 which claimed more than 400 lives. A horrific fire at KTS Fabrics Industries in Chittagong occurred on February 23, 2006 that killed 55 workers. At least 48 workers were killed when a fire broke out in the Chowdhury Knitwear and Garment factory at Shibpur near Dhaka on November 25, 2000.Listed below are some of the disasters since 1990.5 Beside that 61 workers were killed in the building collapse in Spectrum Sweaters Industries Ltd in Savar Dhaka in 11th April, April, 2005. 20 05. Date 27 December 90 5 August August 1995 24 June 1996 1996 15t July 1997

Number of Death 27 10 14 14 22

30 July 1997 27t July 2000 25 November 2000

27 12 53

1 August 2001 8 August 2001

26 24

6 January 2005

22

23 February 2006 25 February 2010

65 21

14 December 2010 24 November 2012 Total

26 111 474

Name of Factories Sarka, Mirpur 10 Lusaka Lusaka Apparels Apparels,, Ibrahimpur Ibrahimpur Suntax Limited, Limited, Pallabi, Pallabi, Dhaka Towhidul Fashion, Dhaka Rahman and Rahman Apparels, Mirpur, Mazar Road, Dhaka Tamanna Tamanna Garments,Mi Garments,Mirpur rpur 1, Dhaka Dhaka Globe Knitting fashion,Banani, Dhaka Chowdhury Knitwear & Garments factory in Narsingdi a factory in the capital's Kafrul a stampede resulting from a fire alarm at Maico Sweater in Mirpur, Dhaka Shan Knitting and Processing Ltd in Narayanganj KTS garment factory in Chittagong Garib & Garib Sweater factory in Gazipur Ha-Meem Group factory in Ashulia Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia

Source: Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, Clean Clothes Campaign and news reports of 14 daily newspapers. ii) Structure of Tazreen Garments

The factory of Tazreen Fashion Ltd, spreading across 131,750 sq ft, had no staircase mounted to the outside of the building for emergency exit. From outside, it appears each of the 16,145 sq ftwide floors of the eight-storey building has adequate sources of ventilation by way of glass

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The Daily Sun,27th November, November, 2012 2 012

Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies-BILS |

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windows. But it turns out the windows were securely bolted with iron frames from inside, leaving no room for airing or little scope for breaking in or out. The upper two floors of the sprawling structure were not operational and hence padlocked, meaning it was difficult to rush to the rooftop in case of fire. Even if one can make it to the rooftop, the absence of any water source denotes it would not be of much respite from the looming danger. Inside, the building has only three staircases all of those ended in the ground floor where the owner o wner dumped all the fabrics highly inflammable. Fire brigade officials informed that the fire license was expired in June, 2012. 3. Description of the Incident

It was the factory godown, from where the fire originated first. The godown was located on the ground floor and the rest of shop floors on top. The godown, that held inflammable materials, had no walls at all. It is assumed that the fire is created from the short circuit of the electricity. In a few minutes the blaze started to spread from floor to floor, burning its way in. Clouds of smoke filled every corner of the eight-storey building. The lights went out. Flames spread fast from the fabrics and yarn stored on the t he ground floor, and trapped the workers inside the building.6

Meanwhile, panic erupted on the second, third and fourth floors of the building with the sounding of the fire alarm. Governed by the sense of self-preservation, the workers rushed down the stairways only to be summoned back by the managers, saying the alarm system was acting up. But the workers quickly sensed there was a fire, a fierce and deadly one. They again rushed

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Editorial, The Daily Star,28 th November,2012


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to the exit point to find it locked from the outside. It was too late and trapped and engulfed in smoke, they died like chickens in gas chambers. Many died after jumping off the building in an attempt to escape the flames while some escaped climbing down the scaffolding attached to the building. The other reason is that the factory had three staircases, and all of them were down through the ground floor. So the workers could not come out when the fire engulfed the building. There was no source of water close by, either for the fire fighters and the road was very narrow to move for the vehicles to take proper p roper initiatives. initiatives.7 4. Time of Occurrence

It was 6.45pm, 24th November when the fire alarm was first raised. The extent of the damage started to emerge as fire-fighters finally brought the flames under control at about 6:00am on Sunday, 25th November. Fire-fighters took half an hour to arrive at the scene, and the 18 units of fire service toiled more than 11 hours to put out the blaze. 5. The Reason behind Massive Death

According to the information of rescued workers and police investigation team to lock the collapsible gate is the main cause of the death of the huge numbers of workers. After locking the collapsible gate the security guard and responsible officials went away. After the fire started the workers wanted to come out but the security guards told nothing happened and there was no fire and they told them to go back in work. The workers prayed and requested them to open the gate but nobody responded.8 The godown, that held inflammable materials, had no walls at all. The factory in question was nearly 3 kilometers from the main road and outside the export processing zone, with a very narrow access road. And this is one of the reasons that caused the delay to the fire fighting vehicles in reaching the site. The exit door for female workers was locked, which accounts for the fact that most of the victims were women.

7 8

– Mon, Nov 26, 2012 Farid Hossain And Julhas Alam , Associated Press – Mon, th The Daily Ittefaq, 29 November, 2012


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Major Muhammad Mahbub, Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence (operations and maintenance), said the fire-fighters found a gate on the staircases locked and had to cut a padlock open during the rescue operation. o peration.9 He said also a short circuit likely caused the fire. A worker Mamata escaped the fire with the help of one male colleague. “When the fire alarm went crazy, our manager told that nothing had happened,” she said. Although the building had three staircases inside, it had no fire or emergency exit. So rushing down the stairs had not helped the panicked workers wo rkers as flame was dancing up from the ground gro und floor, added Mamata. Soon as the fire alarm rang the power went off, said Shiria, another survivor of the fire. “In no time the room got filled filled with hot smoke and we started scrambling to find a way in the dark,” she said, adding that most of the victims died of o f suffocation. suffocation.10

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BBC news, 27 November 2012 The Daily Star,27th November

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6. Total Death and Injury

According to government the total number of dead is 111 and left over hundred Of the 111 dead, 59 still remain unidentified as the bodies have been burned to coal, indeed to cinders beyond recognition. A total of 59 bodies, which could not be identified and remained unclaimed, were handed over to voluntary organisation Anjuman-E-Mafiudul Islam for for funeral.11

Local media reported that up to 124 people were killed, and that about 100 people injured in the fire were being treated in about a dozen hospitals. Many were hurt as they jumped to escape the flames.12 Sample for DNA test of 59 workers who were unrecognized due to serious burnt has been collected by the officials of forensic laboratory of Criminal Investigation Department; and Forensic and DNA departments of Dhaka Medical College.

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12

Tariq Ikbal, The Daily Star,27 th November,2012 Yahoo news, 27th November


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7. Response

A lot of reaction has been expressed by the citizens, trade unions and organizations in response of this tragedy. The whole nation is mourned on the deadly incident. The workers and survivors also showed severe grievance on it. i) Response of Government

Government tried to take initiatives on the incident immediately. The interior ministers has immediately visited the spot and announced to have justice of the deadly incident. The interior minister, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, said that, accord ing to a preliminary inquiry, the fire was the result of arson. He promised to bring the culprits to justice. "We have come to the conclusion that it was an act of sabotage. We are finding out as of now who exactly the saboteurs are and all culprits will be brought to book," Alamgir said. Dhaka District Police Chief Habibur Rahman Ra hman told Reuters his men were investigating complaints from some survivors that factory managers stopped workers from running out of the building when a fire alarm went off. Meanwhile, Labour Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju said the government would shut down garment factories which had no or only o nly one fire and emergency exit. The government announced that a day of national mourning in Tuesday, 27th November, with the national flag flying at half-staff in honor of the dead. In the mean time police has arrested two officials and the security guard of the factory in 28 th November and has been taken in remand for five days. A case has been filed by sub inspector khairul Islam of Ashulia thana. The case has been filed on the section of 304(A) and section of 436 of penal code.


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Besides, Prime minister declared a compensation of 200 thousand taka for each family of dead person and 50 thousand for each injured person. Later Prime minister handed over check of total 600 thousand taka to 43 victim family among the 111 dead person‟s family. The fund has been raised from 200 thousand from relief fund of government, 100 thousand from Ministry of Labor, 100 thousand from BGMEA, 100 thousand from foreign buyer Li and Fung and 100 thousand by Bankers Association of Bangladesh. Till now no compensation has been paid by the owner which is legally obligatory. Though Government has already arrested some persons but people are expecting more actions including proper investigation and justice of the incident and bringing the culprits on spot. Besides the safety of the factories should be ensured and government should inspect the conditions of other factories and make sure not to happen this type of deadly incident again in future. ii) Action of Fire Department

Fire department worked with their units in response of the incident. 18 units of fire service worked for more than 11 hours ho urs to tackle the fire. Major Mohammad Mahbub, the operations director for the Fire Department, according to The Associated Press said that most of the workers who died were on the first and second floors, and were killed because there were not enough exits. “So the workers could not come out when the th fire engulfed the building,” said. In a telephone interview later on Sunday, 25 November, he said the fire could have been caused cau sed by an electrical electrica l fault fault or by a spark from a cigarette. He said firefighters recovered at least 100 bodies from the factory, and 12 more people died at hospitals after jumping from the building. Local media reported that about 100 injured people were being treated at hospitals.13 “The main difficulty was to put out the fire; the sufficient

13

The New York Times, 27th December


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approach road was not there,” said the retired official, Salim Nawaj Bhuiyan, who now runs a fire safety company in Dhaka. “The fire service had to take great trouble to approach the factory.” iii) Response of BGMEA

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association urged investigators not to rule out sabotage."Local and international conspirators are trying to destroy our garment industry," association President Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin said. He provided no details."Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," he said. BGMEA has already formed an inquiry committee but it could not still provide any report in intended date. Though they have taken some steps to provide treatment of the wounded and injured workers but still people are in confusion that BGMEA is taking role in saving the owners. iv) Response of TU

Trade union has expressed numerous reactions on the event and they have showed protest and rally after the incident. Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) has demonstrated mourning rally and procession in response of the incident. SKOP has also formed an investigation committee of six members. The committed is headed by Shah Mohammad Abu Jafar including other members Fazlul Hoque, Jafrul Hasan, Lutfar Rahman, Rokonuzzaman Ratan and Firoz Ahmed. SKOP has also demanded at least 5lac taka for each victim of fire accident in Tazreen Garments.14 Tahmina Rahman, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, said the group wants the government to work harder to punish factories for safety lapses. "The owners go unpunished and so they don't care about installing enough security facilities," she said. "The owners should be held responsible and sent to jail." National Garment Workers Federation organized a rally to

14

The Daily Prothom-alo, 29th November, November, 2012


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mourn the deaths of workers in the fire at Tazreen Fashion. The programme was addressed, among others, by Workers Party general secretary Anisur Rahman Mallick and its Politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha MP with w ith federation president Amirul Haque Amin in the chair. This disastrous fire incident was a result of continuing neglect of workers' safety and their welfare," Amirul Haque Amin, the president of Bangladesh's National Garment Workers Federation, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. Wheneverr a f i r e or accident occur s, the th e gove govern rn ment sets sets up an in ve ves sti gati gation on "Wheneve and th e auth auth ori ties - i ncl udin g f acto actory ry owners - pay out out some some money and and hol d out ass assur ances to improve im prove saf afe ety standar standar ds and work in g condi condi ti ons. Bu t 15 ." ." the th ey never never do it

Nazma Akhter, president of Combined of Combined Garment Workers Federation said,"The owners must treat the workers with respect. They should care about their lives and they must keep in mind that they are human beings. They have families, parents and children,"

Meanwhile United Federation of Garments Workers arranged a condolence meeting in response of the terrible death of over hundred workers presided by the chairman of UFGW and member of ILO governing body Roy Romesh Chandra. They demanded the proper steps from government and submitted some demands to government, owner and buyers to avoid this type of fire incident in factories.

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Source: BBC news, 27 November 2012


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v) Response of Survivors

One survivor, Mohammed Ripu, told that he had been stopped from leaving the building after the fire alarm went off. According to him the managers told them nothing "Managers told us, 'Nothing happened. The fire alarm had just gone out of order. Go back to work,'" serious happened. Ripu said. "But we quickly understood that there was Another worker, Yeamin, who uses a fire. As we again ran for the exit point we found it locked from outside and it was too late."Ripu said he only one name, said fire extinguishers jumped from a second-floor window and suffered in the factory didn't work, and "were minor injuries. meant just to impress the buyers or authority."16 Kamrun Nahar, who worked as a sewing machine operator on the fifth floor, said they tried to rush to the ground floor as the alarm went off, but found the gate on second floor's staircase locked. The supervisors told her to return to work. “I helplessly waited for two minutes and then ran towards another staircase. Around 50 men men and women followed me and we reached the exit on the ground floor, where all the staircases meet. We felt heat and saw smoke when we came down.”

Picture: Protest by workers

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– Mon, Nov 26, 2012 In Yahoo News Farid Hossain And Julhas Alam | Associated Press – Mon,


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Many workers escaped through the adjacent building by breaking metal bars of windows. The owner of that building, Mahmud Ali Sikder, said a makeshift bridge was made to connect the two structures. He claimed that more than 400 people were helped to escape through his building. According to Mominur Rahman, who was working on the first floor of the factory One survivor, Mohammad Raju, 22, who worked on the fifth floor, said he escaped by climbing out of a third-floor window onto the bamboo scaffolding that was being used by construction workers. He said he lost his mother, who also worked on the fifth floor, when they were making their way down.

“We

tri ed to brin g the fir e unde underr co contr ntr ol but the highly flammable fabric and yarn f uell ed the th e fl ame ames s, and we gave gave up, “Since we we werr e on on t he f ir st f l oor, we se sense nsed d th e danger within minutes. We tried to exti ngui sh th e f ir e f or th e next 15 minu te tes s,” Electricity went out within minutes, and flames swept through the corridors and .” stair cas case es cutti ng of f al l exit poin ts

“It was crowded on the stairs as all the workers were trying to come out from the factory,” Mr. k, and I lost my mother in dark. I tried to Raju said. “There was no power supply; it was dar k, search for her for 10 to 15 minutes but did not find her.” 17

Another survivor, Mohammad Shahbul Alam, explained: e xplained: “It was 6.45 p.m. when the fire alarm was raised. I rushed out. I heard that [grills blocking the way to] to] the se second and thi rd f loor s we werr e locked. When When I came dow down, n, I saw fi re at both the

law.” stair ways that the ladies use used. d. I stil l have not f ound an y trace of of my siste sisterr -in -

17

New York Times,28th November,2012


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vi) Protest of Garments Workers

Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers from the Ashulia industrial zone took part in angry protests over o ver the few days da ys in react ion of o f this t his deadly dea dly tragedy and they demanded justice for the victims, the punishment of the factory‟s owners, improved safety conditions, compensation from government and owners. “I haven’t been able to find my mother,”“I demand justice, I demand that the owner be arrested .” .” said one worker named Shahida.

They also demanded the due payment of four months from owners. At a stage they had collision with police several times as the police couldn‟t tackle the situation. They also blocked the road in Ashulia in 1 st December. 8. Action Taken by Government

Government has taken some action in response of the incident. The interior minister has already visited the spot along with some other high h igh level officials and ministers. The Government has already formed a number of committees to investigate how poor security standards led to so many deaths in the fire at Tazreen Fashion Ltd. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered prayers and sympathy for the families of the dead as her cabinet declared a day of national mourning.. The prime minister on Monday issued a call in Parliament to detain those


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who were “carrying out subversive activities” and to “take necessary actions against the culprits,”18

A total number of five investigation committees have been formed to investigate this deadly incident. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Dhaka district administration, police, fire service and BGMEA have formed these committees.19 The four member investigation committee of ministry of home affairs has already visited the factory and committed to submit final report within 15 days and in the meantime it has finalized the investigation report which alleged the negligence of the owner Delower Hossain for this incident. Additional secretary of home ministry, Moin Uddin Khandokar is in charge of the committee. The committee has recommended lodging case against him according to section 304(A) of Code of Criminal Procedure. The committee also commented the incident as preplanned arson and recommended to form a committee jointly with officials of ministry of home affairs, ministry of labor and welfare and fire service. Another seven member investigation committee has been formed leading by additional DIG of Dhaka range who will submit report within five days. The other committee will submit report within three days that will be leaded by additional divisional commissioner commissioner of Dhaka Division; the team is composed of o f seven members too. The others members of the committee are from fire service, police and home ministry Government also launched a nationwide drive to identify readymade garment factories with dismal safety system in 29 th November. Fifteen teams from fire service inspected 73 garment factories in Ashulia and found that one-third of the factories did not have sufficient fire safety measures and security for workers. The teams comprised of 70 officials would inspect as many factories as possible between November 29 and December 2. i) Inquiry Report

The inquiry committee formed by the home ministry to investigate the shocking fire at Tazreen Garments at Nischintapur in Ashulia submitted a 214 page report on 17th December blaming the factory owner, Delowar Hossain, for negligence and recommended that a case be filed against 10 officials, including the managing director of Tazreen Garments, Delwar Hossain 20. The panel attributed the fire to negligence on part of the officials. The chief of the inquiry committee, Moin Uddin Khandaker, an additional secretary of the home ministry, submitted the report with a 16 point set of recommendations to the senior senior secretary of the home ministry.21

18

The New York Times, International Herald Tribunal,27 th November,2012 19 The Financial Express, Thursday, November 29, 2012 20 Julfikar Ali Manik and Jim Yardley, 17th December, 2012, The New York Times. 21 Deepak Acharjee, Acharjee, Tuesday, 18 December 2012, The Independent Independent


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Main Uddin Khandaker, the chief of the inquiry committee, said “The owner of the factory cannot be indemnified from the death of large numbers of workers 22 from this fire,“Unpardonable negligence of the owner is responsible for the death of workers.” workers.”

The committee suggested further inquiries inqu iries by intelligence agencies to determine specifically who were involved in the incident and also by experts to identify the source of the fire. It also recommended that a taskforce with officials from the ministries of home, labour, environment, housing and industries should be formed to look into safety measures at all readymade factories. 23 After analysing the primary reports of the Rural Electrification Board and Criminal Investigation Department of police, and interviewing the owner and managing director, Delwar Hossain, and employees of the factory and witnesses, the committee concluded that the blaze was an act of sabotage, said a member on the t he committee. committee. “We have also found unpardonable negligence of midlevel officials at the factory,” Mr. Khandaker said. “They prevented workers from coming down. We recommend tak ing proper 24 legal measures against them.”

Moreover, Mr. Khandaker said, the factory lacked a required fire safety certificate. It had applied for an annual renewal, but a certificate had not yet been issued. Although the inquiry committee found the negligence of the owner of Tazreen Garments for this devastating incident, still police did d id not arrest him. ii) Parliament Standing Committee

Parliament standing committee for labor and welfare ministry is in a move for convening a hearing meeting on the issue. The MPs, top level fire officials, officials of labor ministry including senior Trade Union leaders and BILS attended in the meeting and talked about initiatives in response of the incident. BILS provided statement in the meeting which includes some proposals regarding the incident and this type of accidents in factories. The statement demanded the due publication of the investigation reports of this kind of previous incidents. It also stated that the amount of compensation provided to the victim family and injured ones is very small and urged to increase the amount as it is said in law. It also recommended to follow the relevant law to prevent such type t ype of incident in future too.

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Julfikar Ali Manik and Jim Yardley, 17th December, 2012, The New York Times. Mustafizur Rahman, Tuesday, December 18, 2012, New Age 24 Julfikar Ali Manik and Jim Yardley, 17th December, 2012, The New York Times. 23


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9. High Court Rule

The High Court has taken steps to form an independent committee to investigate the incident. The High Court asked the government to explain within four weeks why it should not be directed to prosecute and punish people responsible for the fire at an Ashulia garment factory on Saturday. The court also decided to form an independent committee to probe Saturday's fire, and ordered the chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (Bela) to suggest names of some eminent persons within 10 days for constituting the probe committee. committee. In the rule, the court asked the authorities of Tazreen Fashions Ltd, where the fire broke out, to state in detail what compensations they have given to the families of the workers killed and the injured, and what measures they have taken t aken to ensure treatment of the injured staffers. It also asked the government to explain what steps it has taken to implement the HC directives issued in 2001 to ensure safety and security of garment workers and to form an inspection committee to monitor whether the garments authorities abide by the relevant laws in running their factories. 25 Meanwhile, ASK, BLAST, Nijera Kori and BRAC filed writ petition on the incident. The secretaries of labour and industry, president of the BGMEA, chief inspector of the factories, director general of the fire service, managing director of the Tuba group and managing director of the Tazreen fashion Ltd, the owners o wners of the factory, have been made respondents to the rule. According to Writ Petition No. 15693 of 2012, order dated 26.11.2012 Court gave following directions: Issued Rule calling upon the respondents to show cause within four weeks as to why they should not be directed to prosecute and punish people responsible for the fire. Directed BGMEA to submit report within two months including a list of garments factories across the country, and a report on whether the authorities of the factories comply with the relevant laws to run those, and what steps they have taken to save the workers from fires. Directed the Chairman of National Human Rights commission (NHRC) and Chief Executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers‟ Association (BELA) to suggest names of some eminent persons within 10 days for constituting a probe committee into this incident. 

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The Daily Star,27th November


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

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Directed the government to explain what steps it has taken to implement the HC directives issued in 2001 in Writ Petition no. 6070/1997 to ensure safety and security of garment workers and to form an inspection committee to monitor whether the garments authorities abide by the relevant laws in running their t heir factories. factories. Directed authorities of tuba groups and Tazreen Fahsions Ltd., to state in detail what steps have been taken regarding compensations for the workers killed and the injured, and what measures they have taken t aken to ensure treatment of the injured staffers.

10. Role of BILS

BILS have already taken some initiatives on the incident. BILS is supporting media with important information regarding fire tragedy and providing statement and opinion in different news channel. Officials of BILS have visited hospitals to see the injured victims and monitoring the steps taken by BGMEA. Besides we have already submitted statement to parliament standing committee. BILS is also making report on the incident and conducting a research on Fire Tragedy in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, BILS and some other NGO like ASK, BLAST, Nijera Kori participated in a meeting and agreed on in taking initiative to work for the victims. 11. Role of Media

Media played a vital vital role on covering the incident incident up to date. Print and and electronic media across the nation and world covered and broadcasted the incident with high priority. Most of the national electronic media broadcasted the t he incident live and provided up-to-date up-to -date information. information. The international media that are the main buyers of readymade garments from Bangladesh had published reports on the shocking factory fire with great g reat significance. Most of the TV channel broadcasted the live news of the incident and the whole nation could see the tragic event instantly. All the national newspapers published a lot of reports and analysis on this occurrence and tried to find out the reasons of massive death and actual cause of the incident. They also covered the news of protests of workers after the incident and highlighted the demand of workers to government, owners and BGMEA. The media demanded proper justice justice of o f this incident. Global media highlighted the devastating fire incident of Tazreen Fashions at Ashulia, taking note of the fact that Bangladesh's garment industry has poor fire safety measures. Many factories operate with minimal safety measures. Most of the media held lax safety standards, poor wiring and overcrowding responsible for such fatal accidents. The international media in Europe and America highlighted the incident immediately. New York Times in its report said, “More than 100 people died Saturday and Sunday in a fire at a garment factory outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, in one of the worst industrial tragedies in Bangladesh.


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BBC reported, it is unclear what caused the fire, which started on the ground floor trapping many victims in the factory. The Guardian also put the incident with significance and published reports on it. Quoting the witnesses, the Guardian reported, many workers leapt from upper stories in a bid to escape the flames. Twelve workers died in hospital from injuries sustained in falls bringing the overall toll to 123 dead and more than 150 injured. The Financial Times of London in its report on the incident said, "Bangladesh has around 45,000 garment factories and is the world's biggest exporter of clothing after China, with garments making up 80 per cent of its $24 billion annual exports." It said this is the highest death toll in a Bangladeshi factory fire. 26 The Wall Street Journal writes, “It was the latest in a series of deadly incidents at Bangladeshi clothing factories in recent years. Garment workers, who sew clothes for some of the biggest US and European brands, have been demanding better pay and working conditions. But increasing publicity about unsanitary and unsafe working conditions at some of the country‟s 5,000 factories has drawn criticism from human- rights groups.” Al-Jajeera indicated the incident as 'act of sabotage'. 13. Reaction of National and International Community

A numerous reaction has been expressed by different national and international community‟s after this tragedy. US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena „advised‟ Bangladesh to learn important lessons from the Saturday's fatal fire in a garment factory in Ashulia to ensure the growth of the country's " I thi nk th ere are are importan t les lessons to be learnt fr om the apparel sector. i nci de dent nt,, and I am hopeful hopefu l th at these these les less sons woul woul d be learn t to ensure contin uous growth of thi s in dus dustr tr y,"

He told reporters after a closed-door meeting with leaders of Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) in the city on Tuesday.27 Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to his Bangladeshi counterpart Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over a fire at a clothes factory that claimed the lives of over 100 people. p eople.28 According to Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner, "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this tragedy," the retailer said in a statement. "While we are trying to determine if the factory f actory has a current relationship with Wal-

26

Syed Jamaluddin, The Financial Express, Thursday, 29 November November 2012 th The Independent,27 December 28 Yahoo News,28th November

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Mart or one of our suppliers, fire safety is a critically important area of Wal-Mart's factory audit program and we have been working across the ap parel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh."

In its 2012 Global Responsibility report, Wal-Mart said that "fire safety continues to be a key focus for brands and retailers sourcing from Bangladesh." Wal-Mart said it ceased working with 49 factories in Bangladesh in 2011 due to fire safety issues, and was working with its supplier factories to phase out production from buildings deemed high risk. r isk. In its 2012 Global ' F ir e safety safety conti conti nu es to be a key key focus for brands an and d Responsibility report, Walretail ers sour sour cing f rom B anglade anglades sh.' — 2012 2 012 Wal-M Wal-M art Mart said it stopped working Report with 49 factories in Bangladesh in 2011 because of o f fire safety issues Some of the leading buyers have already raised concern about the safety of workers who make the clothing items for them. Even the owner of Tazreen Fashions Ltd, where the fire incident took place on Saturday Sat urday night, is in fear that his foreign buyers may leave him. Dr Victor K Fung, chairman of Li & Fung, in a message sent to International Chamber of Commerce, said: "We are very distressed and saddened by the deaths of so many workers and wish to express our deepest condolences to the t he families of the victims." A Swedish buyer, who did not want to be named, said growth in the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh will be hampered due to the fire incident in the Ashulia-based factory. Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the incident took place at a time when international buyers are targeting Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia as the alternative sources of garments after China. “Bangladesh is still on their radar screen, while Bangladeshi manufacturers are also trying to tap the opportunity, despite having infrastructural infrastructural problems,” he said.


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14. Conclusion

All nations are shocked and numerous protests from general people, civil society, NGO‟s, cultural group, national and international group has been shown on this incident. The present incidence may discourage foreign consumers from using the garments produced in Bangladesh where workers are in a vulnerable situation. Evidently, the buyers in the export destinations will be watching with keen interest the measures taken to ensure safety standards and working conditions inside the garment factories. Otherwise, the second biggest exporter of readymade garments will have reasons to lose golden opportunities op portunities.. In past the country saw some major fire accident in garments factories and not all of the report have come in light and these incidents are occurring quite frequently. Mountain indignation rose among the workers as well as whole nations against government‟s negligence to arrest the owners of the factory. The whole nation is waiting to see more action and proper justice of this incident and demanding the immediate trial of culprit and action to prevent such accident. So, strict implementation of appropriate fire code and system of accountability in all aspects of safety in the garments sector, are vital not only on the humanitarian ground, but it makes simple and justified economic sense.


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Tazreen Fire Tragedy Report

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