1 yr gone but promises remain unfulfilled

One year has gone after Rana Plaza collapse but the promises made to the injured and the families of the deceased have remained unfulfilled. The concerned authorities, including the buyers, are yet to implement their pledges they made to the families of more than 1100 dead and around 2000 injured and at least 323 people who went missing when the nine-storey Rana Plaza building caved in at Savar town in the outskirts of the city one year ago. Reliable sources said at least 323 families have not yet found their near and dear ones since the multi storey commercial complex collapsed in the morning of April 24, 2013, or they are yet to receive the remains of the dead or the ‘missing’ workers feared to have been perished in the worst ever industrial disaster of the country. “At least 323 families of Rana Plaza victims are still in the dark whether they will get any remain of the unidentified bodies of their relatives,” said an official of BGMEA who preferred to remain anonymous. Of the bodies recovered during the rescue operation at Rana Plaza, 105 still remained unidentified, he said. Some 540 families submitted DNA samples against the 323 bodies which could not be identified during the rescue operation. During the rescue operation about 800 dead bodies were handed over to the victim families without any forensic test, he added. Meanwhile, human bones were also coming out in numbers from the ruins of Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories when it collapsed with about 3,800 people, mostly garment workers, inside it. On December 28 last year, more than 100 pieces of human bones were recovered at the collapse site by the locals, following four such consignments earlier in the month, according to a news agency.