Even though the owners of Bangladeshi garment factories vowed not to forget the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster _ as written on a banner at their association's headquarters yesterday to mark 100 days of the tragic incident _ it meant nothing to injured survivor Ashraful Sujon, now under treatment at a Dhaka hospital.
Sujon, who used to work in a garment factory on the fifth floor of Rana Plaza, was admitted at the National Institute of Traumatolgy and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor) as one of his legs was badly damaged in the building collapse on April 24.
He has neither received his due salary, nor did he get any sort of government aid, including donations made by the prime minister from the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust.
"I have not received a single penny of my salary. I asked my factory's senior officials about my salary. Their response was: 'You are too late in claiming.' Getting my salary now seems an unattainable fact, although I am in Dhaka, close to the owners' organisation," said the 35-year-old worker, who has undergone three surgeries to repair the damaged muscle tissue in his crushed left leg.
"I was shifted from Enam Medical to Nitor on the day the prime minister was giving donations. I was unconscious then. Later, my wife tried to get money from the prime minister's fund, which was allocated for the wounded victims. But the PM's office said that since I was late in claiming, there was nothing they could do now," Sujon said from his hospital bed.Â
At present, nine other victims of the Rana Plaza disaster are undergoing treatment at Nitor.
Meanwhile, during a visit to the specialised hospital yesterday, this reporter found two of the victims, Farhad and Sabina, who are comparatively in better condition now, "missing" from their beds as they were taken by "owners' men" to attend a memorial programme.
Farhad is now able to walk and Sabina is supposed to be released today.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) organised the programme at its auditorium Thursday to observe 100 days of the building collapse.
"We will not forget you" read a huge banner hanging from the association's glass office building in the capital. Â
Rebeka Begum, who lost both her legs, said she had only received her salary, but no other compensation. The 20-year-old also lost six relatives in the disaster, but their salaries were not handed over to their surviving family members.
"The dead bodies of my mother, grandmother, two cousins and my aunt could not be found. We only received the headless body of one of my cousin brothers," she said.
Another injured victim, Afroza, said she, too, was waiting to receive her salary.
The "owners' men" asked had her to provide "bKash" mobile banking number. But since she is not registered with bKash, she gave her sister's registration number for the money to be sent. She also provided her own mobile phone number.
"A few days later, I checked with them why my money was not sent, and they told me that unless I get my own bKash number, I will not get my salary," said Afroza, who has been raising her three children alone after her husband abandoned the family three years.
Deemed as one of the country's worst industrial disasters, the collapse of the shoddily-built Rana Plaza on April 24 claimed at least 1,131 lives, mostly and a massive rescue operation had done for 20 days. The rescue operation saved 2,438 people. Hundreds of peoples are still missing.
