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.

British American Tobacco (BAT) Bangladesh on Sunday donated Tk 9.15 crore to the Labour Welfare Fund under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. BAT Bangladesh has been regularly contributing to this fund since the introduction of the Bangladesh Workers Welfare Foundation Act, according to a press release. On behalf of BAT Bangladesh, a four-member delegation comprising Head of Human Resources Department of BAT Bangladesh Saad Jasim, Head of External Affairs Sheikh Shabab Ahmed, company’s two other high officials Adrita Dutta and Akhtar Anwar Khan handed over the cheque to State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Mannujan Sufian in the conference room at the Secretariat. During the programme, Labor and Employment Secretary KM Abdus Salam, Director General of Bangladesh Workers Welfare Foundation Mollah Jalal Uddin NDC and other officials were also present amongst others. BAT Bangladesh has been working as a partner of the Government's initiative for more than 110 years. In the past 10 years, BAT Bangladesh has so far contributed a total of Tk 58.15 crore to the fund. Since the Labour Welfare Fund was formed, BAT Bangladesh has been donating a portion of their profit regularly to the fund as a responsible organization. BATB has solely contributed 15 percent of the total accumulated Welfare Fund.