Sohel Rana has been apprehended before he could flee the country, which is a very good thing; he is being held accountable for his part in the Savar tragedy. However, let us not forget about the four garment factory owners, who are equally, if not more, responsible for the death and injury caused to the hundreds of RMG workers.
As the building owner, Rana should be held accountable as well. Rana had the unsafe building constructed on precarious grounds without proper authorisation. Then, on the fateful day, he made the statement that all was fine, despite the cracks, and reopened the building, despite engineers’ warnings to keep it shut since it might come crashing down, which is exactly what happened.
However, when all is said and done, the ultimate call to reopen the factories lay with the garment factory owners who went a step further. They bullied their workers into returning to work, and threatened them with pay cuts and job loss if they did not comply. They even used Rana’s goons to intimidate the workers back into the dangerous building when the workers refused to enter.
Not all business owners acted ruthlessly. The manager of Brac Bank branch certainly didn’t. He made sure to evacuate all of his workers as soon as the warning was given, unlike the garment factory owners.
Knowing full well the dilapidated condition of the building, but putting their own greed above the lives of their workers, the factory owners are just as responsible as Rana, if not more.
