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Govt to help to set up backward linkages in textile industry
Holiday Report
While formally opening the 5th Dhaka International Textile & Garment Machinery Exhibition - 2008, Textile and Jute Adviser Anwarul Iqbal assured local textile entrepreneurs of all facility for their capacity building through modernization of their factories.
The four-day exhibition was organized by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. The even was arranged in coopeation with ES Event Management of Malaysia and Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service Company Ltd of Hong Kong.
The adviser, who is also in charge of the ministry of local government, rural development and cooperatives, asked the textile manufacturers for raising productivity through application of latest technology to provide strong support for establishing backward linkage facilities to become competitive in the global market.
He said in the post-MFA era, future of the domestic textile market depends on low cost and high quality and still higher productivity.
BTMA President Abdul Hai Sarker said this kind of expositions provide a unique opportunity for the local textile and garment manufacturers to have a glimpse of the technological advancements that have taken place in international textile trade. He said the entire industry is now depending on competition edge.
SArker said: "Now, tough time is ahead. So the question arises shall we be among the ones who comes out successful. The answer lies in our ability to adapt the latest technology."
The machinery used in textiles and garments, dyeing and finishing; embroidery and knitting are being be put on display in the fair.
A total of 415 companies from 26 countries, including Bangladesh, will showcase their products in 730 booths this year.
The participating foreign countries are Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and USA.
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Pilgrimage to Makkah or what?
Tareque Masud
Having returned from our pilgrimage to Makkah I must thank ATN Bangla, and their front man Ekramullah Harooni the compere of ATN Bangla's Islamic programme, a very fine and pious gentleman as he never appears to utter a single word without either Masha Allah, Insha-Allah and Alhamdu-Lillah.
In the true spirit of Islam we all were made to share the same food, transportation and accommodation as ATN or Harooni made no distinctions between the groups paying Taka 190,000 and Taka 250,000 though their brochures with which they lured the pilgrims spoke otherwise. Group paying 190,000 Takas were accommodated closer to Harram Sharif in Makkah than the group paying the higher amount!
One gentleman nicknamed Samrat, whose only stock in trade appeared to be working knowledge of spoken Arabic, accompanied us to Makkah on 23rd November and Harooni arrived in Makkah soon thereafter. Then the shenanigans started first with food as one day breakfast, on another day lunch and still on another day dinner was conveniently forgotten with no regret or remorse from either.
Hajj means hardship!
One will surely find it hard to believe that pilgrims were served with just plain rice with a boiled egg for lunch and on another day it was a bread with a banana for dinner! We later learned that a lady pilgrim had saved her dinner and had shown it to the owner of ATN Bangla (who also performed Hajj this year), who reportedly tried to defend it with the stock answer of "Hajj means hardship" but walked away when he was invited to share the tent and the food with the pilgrims.
There was then the hesitation to take the pilgrims to Madina. One group was made to board the buses for Madinah after Maghreb prayer on 5th December but after an inordinate delay near the Muallim's office reached the Pilgrim Processing Centre, a few kilometers away from Harram Sharif, at nearly midnight only to find it closed for the night! Pilgrims were processed for proceeding to Makkah in the morning!
Everybody, including Harooni and Samrat, knew that busses were then not allowed to travel between Makkah and Madinah after 11pm at night (now it is dusk to dawn) but the pilgrims were still loaded on to the busses because the hotel in Makkah must be vacated by early evening of 5th December and hotel in Madinah will not be available before 2 pm on 6th December. Therefore, to save the hotel rent for a night the pilgrims were made to stay at the buses overnight!
Another group of pilgrims was later taken to Madinah but only after the intervention of the Hajj Mission in Makkah. Unfortunately, they were not kept there to complete the traditional 40 prayers! They could only perform 38 prayers!
From Madinah the pilgrims are usually brought back to their initial place of stay in Makkah for the duration of their stay in Saudi Arabia but in this case the pilgrinis were brought to a house in Azizia - 7/8 miles away from Harram Sharif in Makkah so that they can rest well to perfom their Hajj! Because of stay in a far away place the pilgrims were not able to offer 5 times prayer in Harram Sharif- a prime consideration to be in Makkah. In order to perfom Compulsory Tawaaf and Tawaaf Al-Bida some pilgrims paid as much as 150 Saudi Ryals for one way taxi fare to Harram Sharif.
Apart from the service charge, the Mutawwif (Muallem) in Saudi Arabia is also paid 495 Saudi Rials as transportation charges which is refundable to the pilgrim if not utilised. ATN people who were there got the refunds of thousands of Saudi Rials meant for the pilgrims, but the pilgrims never knew that transportation charges were refunded!
Before closing I must explain why I headed this letter Makkah excursion. Traditionally, pilgrimage to Makkah, to an average Muslim, means completion of Umrah on arrival in Makkah and come out of lhram, regularly offer 5 times prayer in Harram Sharif, go to Madinah and offer 40 prayers in Masjid-e-Nabvi, don Ihram again and complete another Umrah on return from Madinah, again regularly offer 5 times prayer in Harram Sharif, put on Ibram again and complete all the required rituals of Hajj.
Thereafter, pilgrims continue to regularly offer 5 times prayer in Harram Sharif till departure for Jeddah on way back home. Because of the break in this tradition - because of which the pilgrims were made to rest in far away Azizia instead of offering prayers in Harram Sharif -I have called it Makkah excursion instead of Hajj trip or some such description.
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