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Sunday | November 15, 2026 | Dhaka

Govt offers food relief to RMG workers

Leaders urge them to return to work
 Staff Reporter
 Published: 12:01 AM, 14 November 2026  Updated: 11:10 AM, 14 November 2026
Photo: Collected

Labour leaders have urged readymade garment (RMG) workers to return to their workplaces as the government moves to revise the minimum wage, while a special food subsidy programme has been launched to ease workers’ living costs amid continuing unrest in the sector.

Under the new initiative, garment workers can buy rice at Tk30 per kg through the government’s Open Market Sale (OMS) programme, with a monthly limit of 10kg per worker.

The appeals for workers to resume work came at a joint press conference organised by five labour alliances at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) in Dhaka on Friday. Mir Abul Kalam Azad, president of the IndustriAll Bangladesh Council, read out a joint statement.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food said in a press release that rice sales had begun through 66 trucks across Dhaka city, Savar, Dhamrai, Gazipur, Narayanganj and parts of Chattogram district.

Each truck will sell five tonnes of rice every Friday, taking the total weekly allocation to 330 tonnes. The programme will continue until further notice.

Sales will take place in two sessions every Friday, from 10:00am to 12:30pm and from 2:30pm to 5:00pm, subject to stock availability. Gazipur, which has the highest concentration of garment factories among the covered areas, will receive the largest allocation, with 30 trucks selling 150 tonnes of rice.

Dhaka city will have six trucks selling 30 tonnes, while eight trucks in Savar will distribute 40 tonnes and two in Dhamrai will sell 10 tonnes.

Narayanganj and Chattogram will each have 10 trucks with an allocation of 50 tonnes. Workers must show their factory identity cards and sign a master roll to purchase rice under the scheme.

The Ministry of Food said the initiative was introduced in line with the BNP’s election manifesto, which pledged to strengthen social protection for marginalised and low-income groups and improve their access to financial assistance and essential food items.

Making essential commodities more accessible and reducing the living costs of low-income people are among the government’s top priorities, the statement added.

The initiative comes amid wage-related unrest in garment industrial areas. The Minimum Wage Board, formed early this month, has started its work and held two meetings so far.
At its meeting on Monday, the workers’ representative proposed setting the minimum monthly wage at Tk32,000.

The OMS programme is a government initiative to sell essential commodities at prices below prevailing market rates.