Leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday said production of readymade garments (RMG) has dropped by 30 percent due to the nagging power crisis.
The BGMEA leaders came up with the shocking figure during a meeting with State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood at his office.
They, however, did not give any details of the production fall.
They urged the state minister to take some immediate measures, which they believe, would help recover at least 15 percent of the damage caused by the power disruption.
Their suggestions include introducing a relatively lower and flat power tariff dealing with the existing peak and off-peak hour rates, issuing notice prior to the start of load-shedding and installing PFI (power factor improvement) devices at the garment factories by the government and allowing factories to consume up to 75 kilowatt electricity without any installing and sub-stations.
The state minister disagreed with the BGMEA leaders about their claim of production fall, but assured them of bringing the problems to the notice of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for her advices.
"I will send a summary to the prime minister and seek her advices to address the problems of the garment factories," he told reporters after his meeting with the BGMEA leaders.
The state minister urged the garment industry leaders to introduce energy-saving measures for their plants, which would help improve the power supply situation.
BGMEA President Tipu Munshi said frequent power outage also causes various hazards to their plants such as fire incidents and short-circuits apart from the production fall.
"These incidents create panic among the workers and sometimes lead to stampedes," he said.
The BGMEA leaders and the state minister agreed to jointly hold a seminar on power supply situation and use of conservancy devices on May 3 in Dhaka.
BGMEA vice-presidents Salam Murshedi and Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury were also present at the meeting.
