Two committees have been formed to assess the damages to the Labour and Employment Ministry’s documents in the Secretariat fire incident. A committee will assess the damages to the ministry's documents and important records, while another will determine the extent of damage to the ministry's assets. Labor and Employment Adviser Brigadier General (rtd) Dr M Sakhawat Hussain on Thursday directed the formation of the two committees while visiting building 7 of the Secretariat, said a PID handout. Following his directive, the ministry formed the two five-member committees, making its two joint secretaries as the conveners of the two bodies. The committee headed by joint secretary Morsheda Aktar will assess the document and record-related damages, while the committee headed by joint secretary Abdus Samad Al Azad will estimate the asset-related damages. Committee formed to probe Secretariat fire The Labor and Employment Adviser asked the two bodies to submit their reporters within the next seven working days. A fire broke out at the 7th building of the Bangladesh Secretariat at approximately 1:50 am on Thursday.

Four companies on Tuesday handed over cheques for about Tk 6.93 crore to State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Mannuzan Sufian as their portion for the labour welfare fund. The companies are Robi Axiata Limited, Meghna Petroleum Limited, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Nuvista Pharma Limited. As per the labour rule, the companies provided a specific portion of money from their profit to the labour fund of the Labour Ministry. Read: Tk 850-crore revolving fund for capital market in the offing Chief of the human resource department of Robi Imtiaz Khan and general manager of Meghna Petroleum Akter Hossain handed over a cheque of Tk2.76 crore and Tk2.16 crore respectively to the junior minister. Chief Operation Officer of Beximco and Nuvista Pharma Rabbur Reza handed over two cheques of Tk1.95 crore and Tk5.42 lakh on behalf of their companies at a simple ceremony. According to the Bangladesh Labor Act, one-tenth of the profit of a company is to be deposited to the Bangladesh Sramik Kollyan Foundation fund under the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Read: BGMEA health fund receives Tk 1 mn donation from bKash for garment workers So far, 217 local and foreign and multinational companies have deposited Tk 600 crore to the fund. The fund provides treatment costs for incurable diseases of the workers of institutional and non-institutional sectors and funds for the higher education of their children.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian said that the ministry has donated Tk 84 crore for the welfare of garments industry workers from its central fund.