Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told CNN that there are problems in the garment sector in Bangladesh but her government is fixing them.
"Bangladesh now is a place for good conditions for the investment," Sheikh Hasina told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, eight days after an eight-storey Rana Plaza building collapsed in Savar, killing at least 500 people, most of them garment workers. She said 2,437 survivors were pulled from the rubble, where recovery work was continuing.
"Yes, there are some problems," she said, but added that a committee has been formed to ensure the safety of buildings and workers.
"This committee will submit the findings to the Cabinet committee and, side by side, we have been trying our best to improve the situation."
Hasina expressed confidence that international brands would not pull out of Bangladesh following the Rana Plaza accident. Investors have tapped into the Bangladeshi market not just because of its high-quality workers, she said. "They get cheap labor," she said. "That's why they come here."
Asked about reports that only 18 inspectors are responsible for overseeing safety conditions in more than 100,000 garment factories in and around the capital city, Hasina said, "We don't depend on only ... those inspectors."
Steps to improve conditions were taken before the collapse of the building in Rana Plaza in Savar, she said, citing passage by the Cabinet of a labour law that will be sent to Parliament.
Hasina noted that workplace disasters have occurred in the United States, too; she cited last month's explosion of a fertiliser plant in West, Texas, in which 14 people died.
"Anywhere in the world, any accident can take place," she said. "You cannot predict anything."
Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, pointed out that local officials predicted that the building could collapse after cracks appeared on its walls on April 23, and they urged workers not to re-enter it.
"You are very correct," Hasina said. "Unfortunately, in the morning, the owners of the factories put pressure to labor to enter."
She praised government officials for trying to prevent the workers at the five garment factories in the building from re-entering it on April 24, the morning of the collapse. "It is not true that the government hasn't taken any steps," she said.
She blamed the owners of the five factories as well as Sohel Rana, the building's owner, and disputed the suggestion that their political connections could protect them.
Rana is under police investigation in relation to the deaths and has had his assets seized. Protesters have called for him to be hanged.
"The law will take its own course," she said. "Criminal is criminal. They will get all the necessary action; that we can assure you. It is our promise to the people."
Hasina said officials in her government "are in favor of labour," having increased the minimum wage by 82%, built dormitories and seen to the health care needs of workers.
She denied that the killing last year of a labor leader signified that her government is hostile toward unions. Aminul Islam's body, bearing signs of torture, was found four days after he disappeared in April 2012.
"Nobody knew that he was a labor leader," she said. It was only after his body was found, she said, "that we came to know that he was a labor leader and he was assassinated."
More than a year later, she said, the case remains under investigation.
