Different political parties and labour rights organisations specially the garment worker rights bodies on Thursday observed the 12th year of the Rana Plaza collapse, the deadliest industrial accident in the country, with the demand for completing the trial of the owners of the factory responsible for the accident.
The organisations held separate programmes at the Rana Plaza disaster site at Savar, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, and at Jurain graveyard in the capital to mark the day.
On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza, an eight-story building at Savar, crumbled during working hours, killing 1,138 people, mostly garment workers, and injuring more than 2,500 others.
Jahangirnagar University correspondent reported that Rana Plaza disaster survivors, families of the deceased, and labour leaders on Thursday gathered at the disaster site to commemorate the tragedy and renew their calls for justice, proper compensation and rehabilitation.
A temporary memorial near the collapse site became the focal point on Thursday, where floral wreaths were laid in memory of the lives lost.
Survivors like Aziron Begum, who suffered spinal injuries in the collapse, shared emotional accounts of physical and financial hardship.
鈥業 need a major operation, but I can鈥檛 afford it,鈥� said Aziron, adding that early promises of compensation by NGOs and labour organisations had remained unfulfilled for long.
Several labour rights organisations, including the Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati, Garments Sramik Oikya Forum, Industrial Workers Federation, Garment Workers Right Movement, and Jatiya Mukti Council, organised a protest march from the Savar Bazar Bus Stand to the Rana Plaza site.
Rafiqul Islam Sujan, president of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation, stressed the need for revising the compensation law.
鈥榁ictims of Rana Plaza collapse and the Tazreen Garment fire deserve compensation equal to a lifetime鈥檚 earnings,鈥� he said.
Abul Hossain, president of the Textile Garments Workers Federation, said, 鈥楾his was not an accident; it was a planned massacre. Yet, justice remains elusive even after a decade.鈥�
The Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati organised a day-long photography exhibition at Savar Bus Stand, commemorating the tragedy.
The Socialist Labour Front held a convention on the safety of the workers at their work places at the Dhaka Reporters Unity where labour leaders called on the interim government to take steps to ensure safety of the workers.
Chaired by SLF president Razequzzaman Ratan, politicians MM Akash, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, labour leaders Anwar Hossain, Syed Sultanuddin Ahmed, Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, Ahsan Habib Bulbul and rights activist Sara Hossain, among others, spoke at the convention.