The amount that has been deposited to the trust fund is only US$1.5 crore while a deposit of $4 crore is expected to complete giving compensations to all the victims
A total of 3,080 victims of the Rana Plaza collapse would be compensated, with each victim receiving Tk 50,000 from the global trust fund (GTF) created by international retailers, said State Minister for Labour and Employment Mojibul Haque Chunnu.
The minister made the disclosure while talking to journalists on Tuesday after handing over cheques of Tk50,000 to two survivors of the deadly incident that took more than 1,000 lives.
The GTF authority began distributing the compensation in a programme held at the labour and employment ministry conference room by compensating two of the survivors as a token distribution.
The people that received the compensation officially in the programme, are- survivor of the incident Jesmin Aktar and Shamsun Nahar, mother of deceased Shilpi Aktar.
ILO Deputy Director General of Filed Operation Gilbert Houngbou, ILO Country Director Srinivasa Reddy, global union federation IndustriALL’s Bangladesh chapter’s leader Roy Ramesh Chandra, Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar attended the programme.
While distributing the cheques, the state minister said the Rana Plaza victims and their family members would be receiving the compensations from Tuesday, a day before the first anniversary of the incident.
Chunnu said: “The rest of the victims will receive their due compensation through their mobile accounts by Wednesday. The shop keepers and owners were also included in the lists.
The amount that has been deposited to the trust fund is only US$1.5 crore while a deposit of $4 crore is expected to complete giving compensations to all the victims. It would be possible to give Tk25 lakh to 30 lakh to each, if the total fund that is expected to be deposited comes,” he added.
The state minister said a further Tk3.9 crore has already been distributed from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
The victims who lost their right hand or leg received Tk125 lakh each while the victims who lost their left hand and leg recieved Tk12 lakh. The family members of the deceased received Tk800,000 to 1,500,000 from the prime minister’s fund.
In the programme, ILO Country Director Reddy said: “We have not received the expected funds. We are giving the support from the fund that has already been deposited. We hope rest of the money will also be deposited shortly. The rest of the compensations will be given from the fund once it will be deposited.”
Source: Dhaka Tribune
