SBMA General Secretary Md Rashed Khan in a statement said the pre-fabricated steel-building industry will count a loss as the total industrial activities remained closed since December 25 last year.

From December to next June, the observations indicate that there are about five pre-fabricated steel-building industry organisations within SBMA and about 20 other organisations outside the association will suffer the financial loss, he added.

The industry, known as "firehouse" of the country, is currently building about 5 percent of the country's factory sheds.

About 2 lakh people are directly while 2 lakh others indirectly involved with this industry, said Md Rashed Khan.

Over 1 million permanent and temporary workers and employees will be deprived of employment, he informed.

Stating that the industry is in a grave crisis, Rashed Khan said construction activities of cyclone shelter centres of the government and warehouses were completely closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

He also said if such conditions continue, the pre-fabricated steel-building industry will not be able to carry out their operational activities.

This industry is one of the key sectors in the globalisation agenda, which is committed to implementing Vision 2021 to build digital Bangladesh, he said.

He sought direct intervention of the Prime Minister and cooperation of the Finance Minister, Commerce Minister and Industries Minister to this end.