Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, formed to compensate the victims and the family members of the deadliest factory disaster that killed 1,135 workers, reached its US$30m target needed to pay full-fledged compensation. “The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is delighted to announce a major campaign victory with the confirmation Donors Trust Fund has finally met its target of $30m, following a large anonymous donation,” said a CCC statement yesterday. Now, the victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse are going to finally receive full compensation for the loss of income and medical care, said the statement. “This is a huge victory–but it’s been too long in the making,” said Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign. The brands with a collective annual profit of over $20bn took two years and significant public pressure to come up with a mere $30m is an indictment of the voluntary nature of social responsibility, said Zeldenrust. Zeldenrust said: This day has been long in coming. Now that all the families impacted by this disaster will finally receive all the money they are owed, they can finally focus on rebuilding their lives. This is a remarkable moment for justice. The Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund was set up by the ILO in January 2014 to collect funds to pay awards designed to cover loss of income and medical costs suffered by the Rana Plaza victims and their families. The Clean Clothes Campaign will continue to support the Rana Plaza victims who are pursuing further payments in recognition of the pain and suffering inflicted upon them as a result of corporate and institutional negligence, it added. The Rana Plaza Coordination Committee also paid Tk76 crore, which is 70% of the compensation to the injured and the family members of deceased and missing workers. Prime Minister Skeikh Hasina has so far distributed over Tk15 crore as compensation to 976 deceased victims’ family while over Tk4 crore to 38 severely injured victims. On April 24 in 2013, Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories, a shopping complex at Savar, collapsed, killing 1,135 workers and injuring over 2,500 workers.
