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The labour ministry has recently issued letters to 120 business groups in the country, asking them to share profits of their entities with the Bangladesh Labour Welfare Foundation fund as per law.
Officials said the ministry asked the companies under the business groups to deposit 0.5 per cent of their profits in the fund within one month of receiving the letter, otherwise legal action would be taken against the companies.
The ministry has taken the initiative to ensure contribution of all profit-making companies to the fund as most of the business entities in the country are still not contributing to the fund.
The foundation was formed in 2006, with the aim of helping destitute workers, dependents of dead or injured workers in the formal and informal sectors.
According to the Bangladesh Labour Act, companies and other entities having paid-up capital of minimum Tk 1 crore and the companies with permanent assets worth Tk 2 crore are supposed to deposit 0.5 per cent of their net profits in the fund.
The act, however, exempts all export-oriented industries from this provision and stipulates the formation of a separate fund namely central fund with their contribution.
Ministry officials said there were hundreds of companies and economic establishments across the country but a very few of them shared their profits with the BLWF fund.
‘We have recently issued letters to 120 business groups, asking them to share profits of their companies with the fund,’ a senior official of the ministry told New Age on Tuesday.
There are more than 1,000 establishments under the business groups, he said.
The ministry warned of legal action against the companies if they fail to comply with the related provisions of the law, he said.
The official said there were hundreds of profit-making companies in the country but only 151 of them had so far deposited money in the fund.
Recently, the labour ministry sent a letter to the National Board of Revenue, requesting it to provide the list of the names of companies that were not depositing their annual subscription to the fund but the NBR denied providing the list citing legal ground.
A BLWF official said that they had two meetings with the NBR but the board failed to provide the list of the names of companies due to limitation in law.
According to the government data, this year the deposit in the fund reached Tk 3.98 crore as of October 28 with the contributions from 151 companies.
In last four years, the foundation distributed around Tk 40 crore to 11,000 workers, particularly to sick, injured and incapable, and to the families of workers killed in accidents.
(NA)
