The BGMEA is yet to distribute wages of the seriously wounded 384 workers of different factories, housed at the collapsed Rana Plaza, who are now undergoing treatment at different hospitals.
The apex trade body was supposed to distribute the wages from Thursday morning by visiting some 22 hospitals where the injured are under treatment and waiting for the money. Many of these victims have lost their limbs and hence, unable to work again.
The BGMEA declared to distribute wages among the injured workers at different hospitals on Wednesday but later they changed the date to yesterday.
The officials claimed that they could not start distributing the money due to two major causes, one of which is the death of one of its directors Mahbubur Rahman in a deadly fire at a garment factory in Darussalam of Mirpur Wednesday night.
At least eight people, including a police official, were killed in the fire at Tung Hai Sweater Ltd.
“We went to the spot and also to the hospitals to visit the injured. We stayed there the whole night and then attended two namaz-e-janaza [funeral prayers] of Mahbubur Rahman,” said Md Abdul Ahad Ansari, chairman of the standing committee on labour education and welfare of the BGMEA.
He claimed that as most of the BGMEA officials were there, they had to delay the salary distribution.
The second reason, he cited, was a delay in making an accurate list of the workers. “Some workers cannot say where they worked. So, we have to verify their claim, which is not a single day’s work,” he said.
Ansari said: “We have already helped them in many ways, so did many nongovernment organisations. So, this delay will not make any difference.”
Around 8:15pm, he told this reporter over phone that the BGMEA team was on the way to Savar from the city. They will visit the Combined Military Hospital first to hand over the wages to 43 injured workers undergoing treatment there.
“We will not able to distribute the wages in one night. It will take more time,” he added.
