Some 1,587 Rana Plaza collapse victims and their families received the first installment of their compensation from the ILO-managed Trust Fund, officials said.
A total of Tk 127.09 million was paid on September 30 through the DBBL accounts to the victims and dependents of the deceased and injured, they added.
The Rana Plaza Coordination Committee (RPCC) so far received compensation claims from 2,849 workers and their families while 581 more have been enlisted with Primark.
"It was the first installment of compensation approved by the committee," said International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Director Srinivas Reddy.
He, however, did not disclose the amount of the payment each victim received.
The payment was calculated according to the wages they got, expected work duration, their ages and number of dependents and level of injuries, he added.
The remaining claimants are expected to get their payment by mid-November, he said adding the amount that has been disbursed is 40 per cent of the total $40 million required amount.
Replying to a question, he said, the rest 60 per cent of the $40 million is subject to the availability of required fund from the brands.
Mojtaba Kazazi, Executive Director of the Rana Plaza Claim Administration said, "We need to receive more from the brands to compensate the Rana Plaza victims."
"There is a good and viable system and it works. We started compensation payment and hope this will encourage brands to contribute to the fund," he added.
The payment was delayed due to failure of many international retailers to put in their committed amounts into the trust fund by April 24, the first anniversary of the industrial accident that claimed 1,138 lives and injured thousands, sources said.
So far, $17.9 million has been collected against the requirement of $40 million to adequately compensate the victims.
Earlier in April, the victims and dependents of the deceased were given Tk 50,000 each to help them before the Eid-ul Fitr after they opened bank accounts. This amounted to $2 million out of the $17.9 million fund.
Retailers which are yet to make contributions are Adler Modemärkte, Grabalok, Ascena Retail, Iconix (Lee Cooper), NKD, JC Penney, PWT (Texman), Benetton, KANZ/Kids Fashion Group, Carrefour, LC Waikiki, Yes Zee, Cato Fashions and Manifattura Corona.
Bonmarche, C&A Foundation, Loblaw, The Children's Place, Walmart, Camaieu, El Corte Ingles, Gueldenpfennig, H&M, Inditex, KiK, LPP SA, Mango, Mascot, Matalan and Premier Clothing have already contributed to the trust fund while brands such as N Brown Group, VF Corporation, Gap, H&M Conscious Foundation, Debenhams and Zebra Fashion have made contributions even though they did not source clothes from any of the factories housed in Rana Plaza, according to the trust fund.
Primark has made a significant contribution of around $7 million.
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