Savar's Tragedy Construction of Shahid Bedi in front of Rana Plaza

The Dhaka Times Desk Seven organizations have built a permanent martyr's altar in front of the collapsed Rana Plaza in Savar in memory of the dead and missing workers.

Seven organizations have built a permanent martyr's altar in the memory of the dead and missing workers in the building collapse in front of the collapsed Rana Plaza, keeping the slogan "Shahid Bedi where the workers are killed and disappeared". Dabanal, Ganamukti Ganer Dal, Lamp Post, Propada, First Lesson of Marxism, Chhatra Ganamanch, Chhatra Jubo Andolan later 7 organizations laid wreaths at Shaheed Bedi yesterday on August 2.

This permanent martyr altar was built yesterday morning. The sculpture of the altar was done by Anant Modak. Later, around 10 am, a protest march and road meeting was taken out on the Dhaka-Aricha highway under the banner of Revolutionary Workers' Committee. At that time, one side of the highway was closed to traffic for some time. Shaheed Bedi Construction Committee Coordinator Ashish Kuraiya gave a brief speech in the Path Sabha, Dabanal's Suman Moutri, Lamppost Organization General Secretary Prince Ahmed, Ganamukti Ganer Dal Hasan Fakhri, Chhatra Ganamanch's Shantunu Suman etc.

The speakers started a strong movement to establish and protect the Shaheed Bedi, a symbol of the unity of the working class struggle, and made an accurate list of the missing workers and demanded Tk 20 lakh compensation for the dead and missing martyrs, Tk 10 lakh for the injured, and Tk 15 lakh for the rehabilitation of the crippled. The speakers demanded immediate arrest of the owners and those involved in the factories where labor killings took place along with cancellation of all the laws against the interests of the workers and confiscation of all their properties and creation of a fund for the welfare of the injured and killed workers. At that time, the relatives of the dead and missing workers broke down in tears after highlighting their grief. They also demanded immediate compensation to those concerned.

It is to be noted that 1,124 people were killed after Rana Plaza high-rise building collapsed at Savar Bazar bus stand on April 24. Most of them were garment workers. There were 5 garment factories in that building. Cracks appeared in the building the day before the collapse, but the building owner did not take any action. Instead, he pressured the workers to work in that building.