The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has demanded a special government fund to pay the wages and festival allowances to workers for six months to overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. BTMA president Mohammad Ali Khokon recently wrote a letter to prime minister’s principal secretary Ahmad Kaikaus demanded such a bailout package.
The trade body proposed that factory owners would get interest-free loans from the fund to pay the workers’ wages with 36 months repayment facility, according to Bangla media reports.The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has demanded a special government fund to pay the wages and festival allowances to workers for six months to overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. BTMA president Mohammad Ali Khokon recently wrote a letter to prime minister's principal secretary Ahmad Kaikaus demanded such a bailout package.#
It also demanded interest waiver on term loans for six months and increasing the period of repayment to one year with a six-month moratorium facility.
It suggested block account facility on utility bills for six months and interest-free payment facility of the amounts in next 12 month, and demanded raising cash incentive for the sector to 7 per cent from the existing 4 per cent against freight on board price.
The Bangladesh Trade Union Centre, however, felt the BTMA’s demand for interest-free fund for workers’ wages is not logical.
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