Rana Plaza compensation not adequate: expert

The Rana Plaza victims did not get compensation properly because of absence of a benchmark even though four years have passed since the industrial tragedy.

A section of influential garment owners, many of whom are also members of parliament, were reluctant to formulate a proper compensation package for the victims, said MM Akash, a professor of the University of Dhaka.

Akash, who was assigned to prepare a compensation package for the workers, addressed a seminar titled 'Commemoration Event of Savar Tragedy' at the Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka yesterday.

BRAC arranged the seminar on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse that took the lives of 1,134 workers and injured nearly 2,500.

In his keynote presentation, Prof Akash said the proposed compensation by the committee was fixed at Tk 15 lakh for the workers who passed away. Various elements like inflation, adjusted salary and age were considered in fixing the amount.

The garment factory owners are avoiding the court and practising the labour law of 2013, which stipulates an amount as low as Tk 1 lakh for the accidental death of a worker, he said.

The government amended the labour law for the garment sector with the provision of a worker welfare fund, where the factory owner's contribution was set at 5 cents per $100 of exports, according to the economist.

The contribution to the fund began last year, but garment owners reduced their contribution to 3 cents, he said.

Khondaker Mostan Hossain, joint secretary of the labour and employment ministry, said there was the provision of a worker's welfare fund in the previous labour law, but it was not followed by the factory owners.

The Rana Plaza tragedy was a wakeup call for the industry, he said. 

The size of the welfare fund stood at Tk 200 crore after implementation of the amended labour law, which was only Tk 42 lakh before the Rana Plaza incident.

The ministry is working to introduce an injury insurance scheme with the aid of the German government and the International Labour Organisation, Hossain said.

The government reformed the law to protect labour rights and kept the 5 percent profit sharing provision, said Anwar Ullah, additional inspector general of the inspection for factories and establishments department.

All parties, including the government, factory owners and buyers need to work together to implement the law properly, he added.

Gawher Nayeem Wahra, director of the Disaster Management and Climate Change of BRAC, moderated the session while a publication titled 'Rubbles to Life 2017' was launched at the seminar.