Rana Plaza: compensation and rehabilitation still inadequate

One year has passed since the largest ever factory tragedy occurred in Bangladesh on April 24, 2013, which took the lives of 1,138 garment workers and injured hundreds. After the deadly incident, the factory owners, the Bangladeshi government and international buyers pledged their support

for the necessary compensation measures for the relatives of the deceased workers and the rehabilitation of those workers who sustained injuries. However, one year after the tragedy, their initiatives relating to compensation and rehabilitation have been found inadequate by many.

The members of civil society, labour leaders and left-leaning political parties have strongly criticised the government, factory owners and buyers for their reluctance to compensate and rehabilitate the victims and families of the largest industrial tragedy. FashionUnited has a taken a look at what has been achieved and what is still missing.

The BGMEA initiative

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the trade body representing the factory owners, spent a total of 145 million Taka (1.812 million US dollars) to pay for three months salary of the workers of the five garments factories housed at Rana Plaza.

It also provided the salary and allowances of all the workers of the five factories and one more in Mirpur within 15 days of the accident. The association also provided treatment and medical support to the 850 injured victims in different hospitals and donated 20 million Taka (250,000 US dollars) to the prime minister’s relief fund for the families of the deceased workers.

Besides, the BGMEA also gave 35,000 Taka (435 US dollars) to each of the 12 pregnant survivors for their delivery and treatment. A total of 26 workers who lost their limbs have been provided with artificial limbs. The association also agreed to provide jobs to all jobless workers of the five garment factories housed at Rana Plaza.

Steps undertaken by the prime minister’s office

After the tragedy, various institutions and individuals donated a total of 1.27 billion Taka (15.875 million US dollars) to the prime minister’s relief fund to help victims. However, so far the government has spent only 276 million Taka (3.45 million US dollars) of the amount.

From the relief fund, 36 critically injured victims received 39 million Taka (487,500 US dollars); 1099 family members of 798 deceased workers were given 123.350 million Taka (1.541 million US dollars); 228 close relatives of 164 deceased identified through DNA test were given 27.6 million Taka (345,000 US dollars). In addition, 14.214 million Taka (177,675 US dollars) were donated to 22 hospitals and clinics for the treatment of the injured victims. Besides, 10.59 million Taka (132,459 US dollars) were spent for the treatment of a volunteer who was seriously injured and later died in Singapore.

Global Trust

Fund

Until now, 15 million US dollars have been deposited into the Global Trust Fund, a fund created by the buyers of Bangladeshi readymade garments. After the tragedy, the buyers pledged to put 40 million US dollars into the fund for the compensation and rehabilition of the victims and their families. To this date, most buyers have not kept their promises, and have thus evaded their responsibilities and raised only a little over a third (37.5 percent) of the promised amount.

Among the international buyers, Primark tops the list by paying 7 million US dollars into the fund. Besides, on March 16, the Irish discounter pledged another 10 million US dollars to compensate the Rana Plaza victims. Of the amount, the company will pay 9 million US dollars directly to 580 garments workers as long-term compensation and the rest of 1 million US dollars into the fund. Only a few brands like Mango, Zara, Loblaw, Bon Marche, Premier Clothing, Mascot and El Corte Ingles publicly pledged to pay into the trust fund.

The flow of funding is thought to be very poor, which causes a delay in starting the rehabilitation of the victims and their families. The current initiatives will only compensate them in phases.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), the administrator of the Global Trust Fund, has started to disburse 50,000 Taka (625 US dollars) directly to each of the 3,000 victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy one year after the incident. The ILO's deputy director general of field operations Gilbort Fussoun Houngbo said the fund is yet to receive money per expectation. He also said he felt “sad that buyers did not keep their promise”.

What

do victims and relatives say?

Most of the victims and their relatives have claimed that they did not receive any mentionable figure as compensation and that no visible steps have been taken to rehabilitate them. As a result, they are leading a very inhuman life, failing to earn money.

Rima Akter is one of the many victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy who is still languishing in hospital. “My hand was broken during the incident, now I can’t work due to pain. So, during the last three months I have been taking treatment at the Center for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP).” She said in the last one year, she has received 45,000 Taka (560 US dollars) from Primark and 10,000 Taka (125 US dollars) from the government.

At a progrmame in Dhaka on April 23, Sonabanu, wife of deceased garment worker Abdul Karim, said: “I am not sure how to survive with two young kids, having no steps of rehabilitation by the government or buyers. I received only a a small amount of money from the government and the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies. The government and buyers should come forward to compensate and rehabilitate us and help us survive,” said a crying Sonabanu.

Most of the injured labourers have either returned to their villages or remained in the capital, struggling to survive as many are unable to work. The parents of deceased workers, often poor, are now burdened with the young children they left.

Huda Pramanik, 70, of Bogra district is one of those grandparents who have suddenly become parents again. He lost his son Ashraful in the incident whose body was found nine days after the collapse. Ashraful’s wife left for another city, leaving her son Ashamoni, 3, to grandfather Pramanik.

Rickshaw puller Harejuddin of Taratia village in the Nandigram sub-district lost his wife Rekha Begum in the Rana Plaza incident. Now he needs to look after two young children along with his back-breaking work to earn his bread and butter.

Junior labour minister Mojibul Huque Chunnu recently urged the international buyers to come forward with the money they pledged for the Global Trust Fund. He said buyers also have the same responsibility that the factory owners and the government have to compensate and rehabilitate the victims of the tragedy.

Syful Islam from Dhaka

Photos: Mourners at the tragedy's 1-year anniversary, victims waiting for compensation /BGMEA