The lists of unidentified Rana Plaza victims published by the government and labour organisation contradict each other.
Labour organisations alleged that the authorities concerned have failed to publish an authentic list of the missing apparel workers even nearly a year after the factory building collapse, creating an uncertainty over getting the compensation.
An official at the Ministry of Labour and Employment said of the total 1,135 dead bodies, 844 were handed over to their relatives and 291 unidentified bodies were buried in Jurain graveyard and the process of DNA test of those unidentified bodies is going on.
The official seeking anonymity said of the total unidentified ill-fated apparel makers, the authorities identified around 210 bodies and still 81 victims remain unnamed.
However, the data contradicts the information available with the National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory under the Dhaka Medical College (DMC) that is working to identify unnamed victims who were buried without identification.
Prof Sharif Akhter-uzzaman, National Technical Adviser (NTA) of the DMC's Forensic Lab, said they have submitted the DNA report of the 200 deceased in two phases while the report on another ten victims is on a closing stage.
"With the latest detection, the number of victims identified through DNA test stood at 210, while another 112 bodies of the victims are still remaining unnamed," he added.
He, however, said that the DNA testing laboratory found a mismatch between the collected samples from the dead bodies and samples given by the victims' relatives.
Meanwhile, the labour organisations have strongly criticised the government as well as the authorities of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for their failure to ascertain the actual number of missing persons.
Taslima Akhter, convener of the Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati (BGSS) said neither the government nor the BGMEA took the initiative to publish a genuine list of the missing Rana Plaza victims.
BGSS (a platform of the labour organisations) leader Ms Akhter said the list published by the government is self- contradictory as the published figure and the number of buried victims don't match.
The labour leader said they have conducted an intensive investigation over the missing Rana Plaza victims and their reports are highly authentic as they cross checked the reports following the claims made by the victims' relatives.
"A total of 182 people have claimed that their relatives still remained missing since the Rana Plaza tragedy and after cross checking, the BGSS's investigation team found at least 146 claimers with necessary evidence," Ms Akhter said.
Besides, relatives are yet to find out the bodies of their dear ones even after the DNA test confirmed their identity, the labour leader alleged accusing that the DNA test named those who even were not in the list prepared by the government-led factory investigation team.
However, Prof Akhteruzzaman of the DMC DNA Lab refuted the allegation and said they had collected the samples from the unidentified victims by giving a unique number of each grave.
However, the labour leader demanded declaration of the missing apparel workers as 'dead' and ensure promised compensation to the relatives who have been waiting at least for the bodies of the victims.
Shock gripped people all over the world on April 24 last year when the 9-storied commercial building that housed five apparel units collapsed within seconds at Savar, killing at least 1,135 people and injuring hundreds others.
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