10 years on, families of Rana Plaza victims still cry for justice, compensation
As Monday marked the 10th anniversary of the deadliest Rana Plaza factory collapse, victims' families and various organisations of workers pressed home several demands, including capital punishment for all the people guilty of the collapse, and disclosure of their identities.
Their other demands include – formation of a wage board with Tk25,000 minimum salary for 40 lakh RMG workers in the country, payment of 60% dearness allowance until the wage is increased, amendment to the existing compensation law to compensate the victims' families, compensation worth lifetime income to the injured workers, long-term treatment and necessary rehabilitation of the injured, proper conservation and construction of a permanent monument on Rana Plaza premises, formation of an emergency fund for all workers by joint initiatives of garment owners, the government and buyers, and a state declaration to keep factories shut on 24 April every year to observe the day in national level.
"It has been 10 years…I have yet to get any compensation except Tk60,000 from the Prime Minister. Even today we have to take to the street and protest for justice," said Masuda, one of the survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, regarded as the deadliest in the country's RMG history, that left at least 1,136 readymade garment workers killed and more than 2,000 others injured in 2013.
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She went on saying, "We did not want to enter the building that day. Factory officials forced us to join the work. After that, the accident occurred and everything went dark. I was rescued after being stuck in the rubble for four hours, and was hospitalised for three and a half months with a spinal cord injury. I have yet to fully recover. Still, I feel the pain at night".
"We want maximum punishment for all the culprits including Rana [factory owner], and lifetime compensation, rehabilitation and regular treatment for all the injured workers," Masuda added.
Like other years, injured workers, relatives of the victims, leaders and activists of various labour organisations have gathered in front of the Rana Plaza since morning and paid rich tributes to the victims of the factory collapse.
They mourned the victims by placing flowers at a temporary altar built in front of the Rana Plaza. Various labour organisations also held mourning programmes and meetings separately.
Sexagenarian Ferdousi Begum, who lost her son Mahidul in the factory collapse, came to Savar from Joypurhat on Monday. She broke down in tears while talking to The Business Standard.
"My son Mahidul Islam used to work on the fifth floor of Rana Plaza. It has been 10 years now, I still don't know where to find my son. I haven't found the body either. No matter how hard it is, every year on this day I come here, I feel like my child still stays here," she said.
"I don't want anything. I just want my child back. If he is dead, I just want to know where he is buried. I don't want anything else," added Ferdousi.
President of the Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati Taslima Akhter told TBS, "Ten years have passed but still the culprits have not been punished… It seems that this dilly-dallying is to save the government officials who were on duty at that time, including the local mayor, who are defendants in various cases lodged over the Rana Plaza collapse".
She demanded that 24 April should be observed nationally and internationally as Rana Plaza Day.
"We demand lifetime compensation for all the workers injured in the Rana Plaza accident, rehabilitation of the families of the injured and dead workers, and lifelong treatment of the injured," added Taslima.
