Their wounds have not healed
Families still reeling from loss of loved ones; DSCC gives compensation to 31 victim families
Four-year-old Junayed still waits for his father to return home with a bag full of chips and toys, a promise he was given a year ago."He still complains to his mother why his father was not coming back with chips... 'Why is abbu [dad] still taking so much time to come home from downstairs?' he asks," said Junayed's mother Shirin Aktar yesterday, in a choked-up voice.
Junayed's father Shahadat Hossain, who used to run a tea stall in Satrawza, was one of the victims of the tragic fire in Chawkbazar's Churihatta last year.
He had died on the spot.
Shahadat was one of the 71 people burnt to death on the night of February 20 last year.
"Whenever someone knocks, my little boy rushes to the door hoping his father has returned," Shirin told this correspondent at a programme yesterday.
"Every time he asks me the question, I tell him his father went downstairs, and will come back soon. I haven't yet tried to make him understand that his father is dead. He is too young to understand," she added.
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) yesterday arranged the programme where they gave compensation to family members of 31 victims of the Churihatta blaze.
Like Shirin, family members of 30 more victims were present at the programme, each of them still reeling from the wound inflicted by the horrendous fire.
Shirin and 20 others were offered jobs on a master roll [pay-per-work] basis at DSCC's waste management department.
They are offered Tk 475 per day, with condition that they can be sacked anytime without any reason.
Asked, Md Ripon, son of a fire victim Joynal Abedin, said, "I have to be content with this. There is nothing to do."
"They gave the job and I'll do it," said Ripon, who now works at a private organisation.
Of the 31 that received compensations, four were given allocation of shops, and two Tk 4 lakh each. Four applicants of victim family members -- who had higher educational qualifications -- were promised jobs at DSCC as per their qualifications within two weeks.
Replying to a question, DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon said of the victims, only 31 applied for compensation, and that is why they were giving compensation to them.
He said the bureaucratic process has taken them a long time to hand over the compensation to victims' families.
"We have to learn from such a fire incident. If we forget, such heart-wrenching incidents will recur," Khokon said, adding, if people become conscious, the magnitude of damage will reduce in future.
LOCALS RALLY FOR JUSTICE
Meanwhile, a mass-signature programme was held in Chawkbazar area yesterday morning, demanding compensation for the families of the 71 victims of the devastating fire.
Around 100 locals, including victims' family members, participated in the programme held in front of Wahed Mansion, where the fire had originated.
The participants, wearing black badges, recalled the horrific incident and demanded the compensation authorities had promised them.
However, on the anniversary of the tragedy, nobody from the government, not even the local government members, visited the spot.
MA Rahman, one of the key organisers of the programme and a member of a local social organisation, said authorities showed concerns only for around seven days after the incident.
"Since then, nobody from the government has shown any interest in helping locals and victims," Rahman said.
Jarina, who lost two brothers and a two-and-a-half-year-old nephew in the fire, said the only compensation they received was Tk 20,000 along with the body bags.
"We haven't seen a penny of the compensation money promised to us by the authorities," Jarina said while talking to The Daily Star.
The victim's family members and locals will hold a press conference today followed by a human chain demanding compensation for all the victim's families.