It was on April 24, 2013 that Bangladesh witnessed one of its worst tragedies when the Rana Plaza in Savar collapsed, leading to the loss of over 1100 people. Yet what is most disheartening a decade on is how little has been done in terms of offering those that were most affected -- the families of the deceased -- any form of justice or compensation.
While it is true that the Rana Plaza tragedy has been directly responsible for numerous safety regulations to be brought about particularly in our RMG factories and how they are both constructed and maintained, it is a shame that this has not extended beyond RMG factories; workers across Bangladesh continue to work in extremely hazardous conditions, and we continue to see fires break out with alarming frequency at these establishments.
Moreover, the failure to not only keep workers safe through better and stricter labour laws, and the failure to provide reasonable treatment to workers who risk their lives to work these unsafe jobs, is also disappointing.
But it is the failure to take those responsible for this tragedy to task, for the authorities concerned to do right by the people most affected, who lost their family members to a tragedy borne out of sheer neglect and disregard, that remains a cause for shame for Bangladesh as a whole.
We can simply not have powerful people enjoy impunity with literal blood on their hands, while the average worker in Bangladesh continues to suffer. It is imperative that we address these issues that unfortunately continue to plague our country. They are not fitting of a nation which harbours economic ambitions of becoming a developed country.
