Rana Plaza survivors pledge to die

Nilufa Begum once walked freely, her active feet taking her everywhere. She used to climb the stairs to the fifth floor of a building to reach her workplace. With her skilled hands, she ran the machines that earned foreign currency and brought financial stability to her family. She covered all household expenses and took care of everyone.

But everything changed a decade ago with the collapse of Rana Plaza. The garment worker lost her ability to walk—and with it, her job. Her role in the family diminished. Permanently disabled and unemployed, she was eventually abandoned by both her husband and children.

Still, Nilufa is often seen around the abandoned site of Rana Plaza. Limping slowly, she visits the place that was once her workplace—the place that changed her life forever. With tears in her eyes, she sadly asks, “Why did I survive?”

Nearly a decade has passed since the horrific Rana Plaza tragedy—one of the darkest chapters in history. The pain of losing 1,136 lives still weighs heavily on the hearts of grieving parents, siblings, spouses, and children. Over 1,524 survivors, most of them permanently injured, continue to live in hardship, wandering from place to place in search of help.

Many are living with lifelong disabilities, fighting a daily battle for survival. Though they survived that day, they lost their livelihoods. Poverty now burdens their lives, and for many, both their families and futures have fallen apart.

According to workers and various organizations, from the third to the ninth floor of the nine-story Rana Plaza building in Savar, located beside the Dhaka-Aricha highway, there were five garment factories. On April 24, 2013, when the building collapsed, more than 4,000 garment workers were working inside. Among them, 2,438 were rescued, but 182 are still missing. Of those, the DNA and graves of 146 have yet to be found. The remaining 36 have been identified through DNA, but due to discrepancies in contact addresses and phone numbers, their identities remain unknown.

The families of the deceased and missing, as well as the injured workers, allege that even after more than a decade, they have not received proper compensation or rehabilitation from the government or the factory owners. In their pursuit of justice and compensation, they have been left destitute. Many injured and disabled female garment workers have been abandoned by their husbands and children. Some, now unemployed and unable to bear the hardship, are desperately demanding what they call "permission to commit suicide."

The trial of the murder case filed over this brutal tragedy has still not been concluded.

Senior sewing operator Nilufa Begum used to work on the fifth floor at Phantom Tac Ltd. She lost one of her legs in the collapse of the building. Her other leg has also become infected, but due to a lack of funds, she is unable to undergo surgery.

Nilufa told Views Bangladesh, “I can’t even walk properly with one leg. I used the last of my savings—not to stock my small roadside shop, but to see a doctor. Now the shop is shut too. And now they’re telling me I need surgery—how am I supposed to afford that?”

She added, “My husband left me and married someone else. My only son couldn’t bear the hardship and left too. Now, I’m all alone.”

Nilufa complained, “I don’t have money for the operation. I only received Tk330,000 as a grant—but no compensation. I don’t even know if or when I’ll get it. To this day, neither the buyers nor the factory owners have checked in on me.”

Parul Akter, a sewing operator who also worked at the same factory, said, “I received less than Tk100,000 as a grant. That money ran out a long time ago. I still can’t work. My husband is ill, and what can we do with his Tk10,000 salary? It’s extremely difficult to manage household expenses and our children’s education. We still have to borrow money from others just to get by.”

With a tearful voice, Parul Akter said, "Sometimes I feel like it would be better if I died. I can't give anything to my son and daughter. Even if I take a job somewhere, they fire me by noon. Why would they keep me if I can't work? I demand from the government, I want my due compensation. We should be rehabilitated quickly."

For the past twelve years, various workers' organizations have been raising four key demands. These demands include compensation equivalent to a worker's lifetime earnings, permanent rehabilitation, free lifelong medical treatment, and the swift trial of the Rana Plaza owner.

Khairul Mamun Mintu, Legal Secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Sweater Workers Trade Union Centre, said, “The condition of the injured workers has only worsened over the past decade. Some are surviving on just one meal a day. In fact, when employers hear that someone used to work at Rana Plaza, they refuse to hire them—some are even thrown out.”

He further said, “All the money that came in so far was in the form of donations. But the compensation that was supposed to come from the owners and the state has yet to see the light of day. There is still Tk100cr sitting in a government fund—money that belongs to the workers. Yet, they haven’t received any of it.”

Khairul Mamun Mintu said, “We had asked for compensation for the Rana Plaza workers according to the ILO convention. The compensation should be equivalent to what they would have earned in their lifetime, as per ILO standards. Additionally, in 2022, a pension scheme was introduced for garment workers, known as the EIS project. This project ensures that workers who are injured in any factory will receive a pension as long as they remain unwell. However, the workers from Rana Plaza were not included in this project, which is very unfortunate.”

According to a survey by ActionAid Bangladesh, 51% of the workers who were victims of the accident were still unemployed in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, this figure rose to 57%, the highest in the past six years. Additionally, 9.5% of the injured garment workers have no income, and 10.5% earn less than Tk5,300 per month.

The survey results further state that **92%** of the workers injured in the Rana Plaza collapse did not receive any government assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 8% of the workers received some minimal support. Additionally, 14% of the workers have seen a deterioration in their health, while 12.5% are suffering from mental trauma. In 2019, this figure was 10.5%, indicating a 2% increase in the number of workers whose mental health has worsened.