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Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged the government to take immediate steps to repair the inoperative explosive-detection systems (EDS) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital.
The apparel apex trade-body has also called for increasing the number of scanners to speed up the process of scanning export cargoes.
BGMEA President Faruque Hassan made the requests in a meeting with Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md. Mokammel Hossain at the latter's secretariat office in the city on Sunday.
BGMEA vice presidents Shahidullah Azim, Khandoker Rafiqul Islam and Md Nasir Uddin, and Biman Bangladesh Airlines managing director Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal were also present in the meeting.
The BGMEA leaders said RMG exports are being hampered, as two EDS machines in the airport have been out of service. Besides, two other newly-installed EDS machines could not be made operational, as these are yet to get validation from the European Union.
They stressed on carrying out maintenance of the EDS regularly in order to keep those operational, as scanning process is hampered very often due to technical glitches. The BGMEA leaders also requested the authorities to ensure adequate space in the scanning area, so that export cargoes can be scanned in an orderly manner and shipped timely.
Besides, a spacious parking lot is needed to keep the export freight after scanning for air shipment.
The delegation called on bringing RMG goods inside the cargo village or canopy immediately after unloading from aircraft.
The BGMEA leaders also requested for steps to stack RMG goods in the cargo shed in a proper order, so that cargoes can be found out easily and released quickly.
Their other demands included not to charge demurrage fees for the delay in releasing goods due to stacking of goods haphazardly in the cargo village.