14 killed workers’ families await compensations

Families of 14 workers, two of them women, killed on January 31 by a devastating fire at the factory of Appco Bangladesh that produced disposable plastic items at Mirpur are passing their days in extreme hardship getting no compensations.
Four other workers suffered burn injuries in the factory fire on the evening of January 31.
The other workers of the factory are also facing uncertainties as the owners took no initiatives to resume production.
Resumption of production became uncertain  as all the machinery were reduced to ashes, Appc’s manager for marketing Abdur Rahim told New Age.
He said that the factory management paid  last month’s wages to all the 125 workers and employees including those lost their lives in the fire.
The Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments said it filed 15 cases against of the factory owner Anisuzzaman Khan, 14 of the cases sought compensations for the 14 dead workers and one case was filed for running unauthorized factory.
DIFE inspector general Syed Ahmed said that the lawsuits were filed on the basis of  a  probe by a four-member committee appointed by the labour and employment ministry showed that the owner’s irresponsibility led to the factory fire that killed the 14 workers and left four others injured.
The probe body chief an DIFE joint inspector general Md Obidul Islam said that that the management provided no training to the workers.
The factory was run illegally and the owner never cared to even apply for a licence to  set up and run the factory, he said.
All the factory stairs were narrow and unsuitable for a factory, Obid added.
Police said that the factory owner could not be traced.
Surviving worker Begum said that she had been jobless since the blaze devastated the factory housed in a five-storey building.
‘We received last month’s wages, but our future is uncertain,’ Begum added.
Ali Ahmed, brother of killed worker Russia Begum, said that the family was in the dark  whether due compensations would be paid.
He said that the family applied for  compensation to DIFE inspector.
Factory manager Rahim said that the management was committed to pay all the compensations after the issue was setteled by labor court.
The Labour Act stipulates payment Tk one lakh in compensation for each workplace death.
The law requires the employer to deposit the compensation money to the Labour Court.