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None cared for them

Dear ones still there, mourning the missing

Wasim Bin Habib
Their expressions were nonchalant. With Eid just around the corner, there were no signs of happiness on their faces. Still reeling from the pain of losing
people dose to their hearts, they just waited for some help at the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza at Savar.
"What Eid will we celebrate? And with whom?
FROM PAGE 1
My daughter will never come back ... ' wailed Kohinur, holding a bunch of papers and a photograph of her missing daughter Mamtaj, whose body is yet to be found.
Kohinur said every year Mamtaj along with her family members would go to their village home at Sirajganj to celebrate Eid. Mamtaj used to buy clothes for her three daughters and other children of the family.
"Now, who will buy clothes for the three children? They cry for their mother and I cannot console them anymore; it's extremely painful," said Kohinur, choking with emotion.
“Many received help, but no one gave us anything," she said.
Kohinur is not alone.
Many like her are yet to receive any help as the bodies of the victims have not been identified so far, even though over 100 days have gone by since the tragedy.
The collapse of the nine-storey building, which
housed several garment factories, on April 24 claimed 1,132 lives. At least 2,438 were rescued, with many of them becoming maimed.
Relatives of the missing, who are almost certainly deceased and yet to be identified, go to the local Upazila Nirbahi Office and gather at the site with photographs in their hands.
Whenever anyone enquires of them about anything, they jump up, requesting them that the namesoftheirmissing relatives be noted down, as if writing down the names of the missing will somehow help.
Behind the site sat Mina Rani, aged around 50.
"We too have not got anything," she said. She was clutching a photograph of her missing daughter Pushpa Rani, who worked on the second floor of the building just as Momtaj did.
She said after her husband suffered a stroke, Pushpa and her son used to provide for her family. "Now, who will run our family and raise her [Pushpa’s] two little
kids," she asked.
The workers who sustained injuries in the collapse were also in trouble.
Mohammad Pintu, who worked on the fourth floor, sustained severe injuries to his hand and chest. So far, he has received a month's salary and Tk 16,000 from the British retailer Primark.
"I will not be able to work like I used to. How will I survive if I get nothing more," Pintu asked.
Mohammad Sohag has stopped paying tuitions for his two children, one in class-Ill and the other in class-I, as he cannot even afford the cost of the treatment of his wife Nupur.
She worked on the seventh floor and had severe head injuries. “Now, I don't have the money to buy the costly medicine," he said.
Against this backdrop, over 200 victim workers and their relatives blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway in front of the Rana Plaza site in Savar yesterday afternoon.
They demanded salaries for three months from May, Eid bonuses, compensation
and costs of rehabilitation and treatment.
At least 15 people were injured as police charged truncheons on them, reported our Savar correspondent.
Traffic movement on a 10km stretch remained suspended for about 45 minutes, said Farhad Hossain, traffic inspector of the highway.
Mostafa Kamal, officer-in-charge of Savar Model Police Station, said, “It is a busy highway and people were going home ahead of Eid. Therefore, it was our duty to clear the highway."
The workers claimed that police swooped on them and beat them up without any provocation.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters' Association (BGMEA) had earlier paid the workers the salary for April.
Under labour rules, the authorities of a factory must pay salaries for three months when they declare a factory closed, claimed Mohammad Jalal, a worker who was injured.