Leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have requested the Bangladesh Truck Covered Van Owners Association to ensure that a GPS tracker is installed in all goods-laden cargo vans to stop stealing during transportation.

BGMEA leaders and Bangladesh Truck Covered Van Owners Association held a meeting in Dhaka Sunday to discuss ways to prevent readymade garment (RMG) export goods theft on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan, Vice-President Md Shahidullah Azim; Executive President of Bangladesh Truck Covered Van Owners Association Syed Md Bakhtiar, General Secretary Rustom Ali Khan, among others, were present at the meeting.

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In the meeting, they stressed the need for increased vigilance of law enforcement agencies – including Highway Police, Rapid Action Battalion and district police – on the Dhaka-Chattagram highway and also on Mirpur-Dhowr road to prevent the theft of RMG export goods.

They called on the Bangladesh Truck Covered Van Owners Association to fix the fare of trucks and covered vans and refrain from hiking transport fare arbitrarily.

Also, they urged all garment factories to keep the photos of drivers, helpers and travel documents including licences of trucks and covered vans as a precautionary measure.

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They requested the Roads and Highway Department to carry out repair works on the Langabandh Bridge in Sonargaon on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway during the upcoming Eid holidays instead of following the present schedule of 12-14 July as it would require all goods-laden cargo vans to travel around 100 kilometres extra on an alternative route.

It would delay the transportation of RMG cargoes and increase the risk of missing timely shipment, the BGMEA leaders said.