The Rana Plaza tragedy on Thursday passed a year with sigh, pain, disappointment and anger. When the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed at Savar, on the outskirts of the city on April 24 last year, 1135 garment workers were killed, several hundreds were injured and many were maimed.More than 2,500 people were rescued from the building alive, but a large number of the victims of the tragedy are still suffering terrible injuries, even after passing a year. Many of the garment workers lost foot, leg and many others are still alive losing their mothers, daughters, sons and husbands.Different organisations arranged various programme marking the first anniversary of the incident. They held rallies, memorial meetings and other programme and placed wreath at graves of Rana Plaza victims at Jurain graveyard in the city.Garment Sramik Trade Union Kendra demanded compensation for all RMG workers of the Rana Plaza and exemplary punishment to those responsible for death of the workers. They also demanded punishment to those responsible for the disaster. The organisation made the demand at a rally in front of the National Press Club in the city. Relatives of Rana Plaza tragedy victims also took part in the rally. The speakers of the rally said, the victims have not been given compensations, families of the dead and maimed workers were not rehabilitated. They alleged, there is no significant progress in the trial proceedings for those responsible for the disaster.Earlier in the morning, a team of the association placed wreath at the Jurain graveyard. Another team placed wreath at Rana Plaza Monument in Savar.Meanwhile, Bangladesh OSK Garments and Textile Workers Federation placed wreath at Rana Plaza monument at Savar at 7am and observed one-minute silence. The federation also held a rally there with its Vice-President Mahbubul Alam Manik in the chair.Demanding punishment to those responsible for the tragedy, they urged the government to declare April 24 as a national mourning day. The BNP also held a discussion and milad mahfil at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in memory of those killed in the Rana Plaza collapse. Addressing the progrmame, BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam accused the government of misusing the huge fund raised for helping the victims’ family members. “We know Rana Plaza owner is an Awami League leader. We also know the workers were forcefully taken into the building to join works despite repeated warnings as it developed cracks. So, it’s tantamount to deliberate illing,” he said.He further said that the huge amount of money raised for helping the family members of those killed and for ensuring better treatment of those injured has been misused. He alleged that various plots are being hatched to destroy Bangladesh’s RMG sector as its products gained huge popularity across the globe.In observance of the day, many other trade unions and other organisations held programmes and placed wreaths at the Rana Plaza Monument and the graves of the victims at Jurain.
