BY ADI NARAYAN
NEW DELHI — Bangladesh’s commerce minister said here Tuesday said that the rapid growth of its $18 billion textile industry — helped by higher costs in China — far outpaced the government’s ability to carry out safety inspections.
“The ready-made garments industry grew in Bangladesh all of a sudden, at a very high pace,” Ghulam Muhammed Quader told reporters during a visit to the Indian capital. “The industry grew out of proportion compared to our facilities or our controlling capacities.”
Fresh inspections are now being carried out in all of the nation’s nearly 5,000 apparel and textile factories to ensure they have sufficient safety and fire-protection equipment, Quader said.
His comments followed a Jan. 26 blaze that killed seven people — the second major fire at a clothing factory in two months. More than 100 people were killed on Nov. 24 at a plant producing clothes for companies including Wal-Mart and Williamson-Dickie.
More than 700 Bangladesh garment workers have died since 2005 in factories with poor electrical wiring, an insufficient number of exits and little fire-fighting equipment.
