Rana Plaza Coordination Committee has decided to pay a second part of compensation money to the families of 5,000 garment workers who were either dead or injured in the country’s deadliest industrial accident about two years ago.
The money, 30% of the respective sums, will be disbursed through bank accounts before April 15, said the authorities concerned.
Earlier in 2014 the families received 40% of their respective compensation figures.
The remaining 30% will be paid once sufficient fund is available, said an official of the committee.
The committee approved the new round of compensation payments on Tuesday, according to a Clean Cloth Campaign statement.
“The families will get the money before the second anniversary of the factory disaster,” ILO Country Director Srinivas B Reddy told Dhaka Tribune.
The committee member Shahidullah Azim said an amount of Tk31.35 crore had already been transferred to the committee’s account at the Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd to pay the compensations.
He said the bank would deposit the payments to the respective accounts of the victims once the victims’ list reached there from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The fund would also be used to pay initial amounts of Tk50,000 each to 97 families who earlier didn’t receive it.
Initially, the committee decided to given Tk50,000 each to all families before the compensation payments started.
The compensation figures have been determined on the basis of the intensity of the losses by the victims following international standards.
Clean Cloth Campaign said there were still $9m shortage in the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund to pay the remaining parts.
The Trust Fund set up by the ILO in January 2014 received around $21m in donations from various sources including the global brands.
“The Fund urgently needs more donations (to pay the rest of the money),” said Sam Maher of the Clean Clothes Campaign.
“The $9m shortfall is totally unacceptable, and we need to see all stakeholders involved, particularly Benetton ( a retailer) and other brands, step up and fulfill their responsibility,” he said.
The Clean Clothes Campaign urged Benetton to make an immediate payment of at least $5m to the Trust Fund - an amount believed to be proportional according to Benetton’s ability to pay, the size of their relationship with Bangladesh and their relationship with Rana Plaza.
Therefore all companies connected to the Rana Plaza building are urged to immediately increase their donations in order to ensure the fund reaches $30m by the second anniversary of the disaster.
On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commercial building in Savar, collapsed, killing over 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500.