Half of Rana Plaza tragedy survivors still jobless

In this photograph taken on April 17, 2018 Nilufer Begum, an injured garment worker who survived the Rana Plaza disaster, sits with her crutches by her small tea stall in Savar, northwest of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. File Photo
In this photograph taken on April 17, 2018 Nilufer Begum, an injured garment worker who survived the Rana Plaza disaster, sits with her crutches by her small tea stall in Savar, northwest of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. File Photo

Although six years have elapsed since the tragedy, families of many Rana Plaza collapse victims are yet to receive any compensation and many survivors are still jobless, reports UNB.

According to the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), around 51 per cent survivors of the tragedy are still jobless and many victims are yet to receive any compensation.

Meanwhile, the workers who were injured in the Rana Plaza collapse went on an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday in front of the building site to press home their 11-point demand.

Under the banner of Rana Plaza Survivors' Association, they took to the streets in the morning and started their demonstration.

The demands include providing compensation to all the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy, taking steps for the rehabilitation of the survivors, providing medical services to them for life, announcing 24 April as the National Rana Plaza Mourning Day, bearing the education expenses of the victims' children, ensuring highest punishment of those responsible for the tragedy and confiscating their assets.

Mahmudul Hasan Hridoy, president of the association, said they will continue their movement until the demands are met by the authorities concerned.

On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an illegally constructed building in Savar housing five garment factories, collapsed. As many as 1,175 people were killed and over 2,000 others injured.

Different rights bodies, workers' organisations and left political parties have chalked out various programmes, including discussions, rallies and human chains, to mark the sixth anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse, the worst-ever tragedy in the country's multibillion dollar readymade garment (RMG) industry.