The above amounts do not include salaries and other assistance provided by financing from C&A Foundation and others through CARITAS Bangladesh. Trade union leaders yesterday again demanded exemplary punishment for the owner of Tazreen Fashions as 113 workers of the factory were killed in a fire mainly due to his negligence. The fire that burned down the factory in Ashulia four years ago also injured more than 200 workers. The Tazreen Fashions fire was not an accident but a killing incident due to the negligence of its owner Delwar Hossain, the union leaders said in a statementThe leaders addressed the surviving victims and dependants at a token sit-in programme in front of the National Press Club. Hossain is now out of jail as the High Court granted him bail last year. However, in September last year, charges were framed against 13 people, including two owners of Tazreen Fashions, in a case over the devastating fire. “Delwar Hossain should be arrested immediately, as many workers were killed only for his negligence,” said Nazma Akter, executive member of the IndustriALL Global Union. Many victims are yet to be compensated properly, said Nazma. Tazreen Claims Administration Trust (TCA) paid around Tk 17 crore (about $2.17 million), to 582 beneficiaries of Tazreen Fashion fire, said Mojtaba Kazazi, chief commissioner of the TCA, in response to an email from The Daily Star. Payments were made directly to the individual bank accounts that were opened for each beneficiary with Dutch-Bangla Bank’s Motijheel branch. The amount does not include salaries and other assistance provided by financing from C&A Foundation and others through CARITAS Bangladesh, Kazazi said. The payment of compensation from TCA is over. It was formally closed down on June 30, 2015, he added. All the workers who registered with TCA already received compensation. However, seven injured workers could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, he said.When asked if any worker is still missing, he said: “It is very unlikely. According to the government list, there were 10 missing workers and all of them were registered with TCA.” From the amount contributed by donors, $352,000 is left and allocated for long-term medical care for the injured workers, he said. A Trust for this purpose is registered and set up in Dhaka for both Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashions workers and will soon become fully operational, Kazazi said.
