The Tazreen Claims Administration (TCA) that was formed to compensate the victims of the Tazreen Fashions fire has paid $2.17 million or Tk 16.75 crore to 582 victims and dependants, according to a statement of the TCA yesterday. The compensation was paid for loss of income for the injured, deceased and missing, as guided by the International Labour Organisation Convention 121, which mainly deals with compensation for victims after industrial accidents. The amount to be paid for injured workers was calculated on the basis of the victims’ salary and age, while compensation for the dependants of the deceased and missing workers was based on the salary, and the number and age of their dependants, the TCA added. Of all the victims, TCA awarded compensation worth $1.29 million or Tk 9.94 crore to 373 dependants of 103 deceased, the statement added.A total of 37 dependants of 10 missing workers also filed for claims. The TCA paid $1.36 million or Tk 1.06 crore to nine missing workers’ families, as one missing worker could not be verified by the TCA expert committee. The TCA paid compensation worth $0.75 million or Tk 5.76 crore to 172 injured workers; 174 claims were filed, but TCA did not pay two as they could not be verified. Payments from the ILO-brokered fund were made to the individual bank accounts at the Motijheel branch of Dutch-Bangla Bank that were opened for each beneficiary.For the best use of the money now and in future, all the beneficiaries were offered assistance in purchasing government-issued savings bonds with an average interest rate of about 11 percent, with part or the full compensation amount. Sixty-five from the Dhaka region and 51 beneficiaries from Rangpur region purchased the savings bonds, the statement said. The total funds required to pay awards, and to provide long-term medical care for the injured workers was estimated at about $2.5 million. The required fund was given by C&A Foundation that contributed $1 million, Fung Foundation $1 million, Brac USA $250,000, KiK $150,000 and EI Corte Ingles $100,000, the TCA statement said.In addition, C&A Foundation covered the administrative and running cost of TCA. Further programmes will continue as planned, including the educational trust for children of Tazreen victims, which is funded by C&A Foundation and Fung Foundation, the statement said. The Tazreen Coordination Committee has allocated a budget of about $350,000 for long-term medical care for the injured workers. The TCA Trust was set up in September 2015 in order to oversee implementation of a system for calculating and distributing loss of income payments to the families of those killed at Tazreen and to those workers who were injured in the fire.
