Labour ministry assistance to 1526 workers in 6 months

Staff Correspondent: The labour ministry has allocated around Tk18.08 in the last 6 months for the welfare of workers of 100 percent export oriented garments industries.
The central fund has been used for treatment of cancer, accident injuries and higher education for the children of laborers.
Selina Akhter, additional secretary and director general of central fund, the ministry of labor, yesterday said around Tk 18.08 crore was spent for assistance to the families of 1,526 workers who died in the last 6 months (July-December ‘21), workers who are suffering from chronic diseases, injured in accidents, and to help in the higher education of the meritorious children of the workers. Since inception, the fund has provided around Tk 125.21 crore to 9,500 workers and their families so far.
Of these, the families of 5,623 dead workers have been provided financial assistance of Tk 112.01 crore for subsequent financial assistance, 3,047 sick workers provided medical assistance of Tk 9.25 crore and the meritorious children of 763 workers provided education assistance of Tk 1.52 crore.
The fund was formed in 2015 under the ministry of labour for the welfare of workers in the 100 percent export-oriented garment industry in accordance with the provisions of Section 232 (3) of the Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006.
Since July 2017, 0.03 percent of the total exports have been directly deposited in the central fund of the labor ministry through Bangladesh Bank. The current cash balance of the central fund and deposits with FDRs in various banks amount to Tk 214 crore, the ministry sources said.