The 12th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse, the deadliest industrial disaster in Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) sector, is being observed on Thursday.
Different rights bodies, workers organisations and left-leaning political parties, including Rana Plaza Survivors’ Association arranged various programmes, to honour the memory of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
Workers and activists lit candles at Savar Bus Stand on Wednesday evening in memory of the victims.
Rafiqul Islam Sujon, President of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation, said, every year on this day, we observe various programmes in memory of those who lost their lives and demand justice for them.
He reiterated the call to declare April 24 as National Workers’ Mourning Day.
Workers’ groups also renewed their demands to acquire the land where Rana Plaza once stood and construct a memorial there.
They called for the rehabilitation of injured and affected workers, maximum punishment for those responsible, and compensation equivalent to a lifetime’s income for the deceased and injured workers.
On April 24, 2013, the illegally constructed Rana Plaza building in Savar, which housed five garment factories, collapsed, killing 1,138 people and injuring over 2,000 others.
The tragedy exposed severe flaws in factory safety and workers’ rights in the country's multi-billion-dollar RMG industry.