Sat 15 Dec 2007
Why should the poor always have to pay for the misdeeds of the government, of the rich?
Posted by Asif under Human RightsBy Priscilla Raj
Translation: Rahnuma Ahmed
Photo: Zaid Islam
This question surfaced yet again when I stood outside Rangs building on the morning of Dec 12.
Tonight I have learnt that 14 coffins have been taken inside. Since then, family members of the workers have refused to leave the area. Many of them think that the authorities will get rid of the bodies. They have come from outside Dhaka, they do not belong here, they have no networks of familial or social support in this city. They can only gather and resist with whatever they have.
Rangs, one of the largest business houses in Bangladesh, had their building plans approved by Rajuk (Rajdhani Unnoyon Kortripokkho, i.e., Capital Development Authority), and they built a huge edifice. Approval for high rises are generally not given in this area due to flight restrictions. Six storied buildings are the limit. However, Rangs built a 22 storied building which no one could miss. Except Rajuk, of course.
That is how things stood until the present caretaker government came into power and rushed headlong into its drive against corruption.
Which officials in Rajuk had okayed these plans? And why? That has remained a secret. Has anyone in Rajuk been punished for approving these plans?
The Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the building, and Rajuk appointed Six Star, a ship-breaking company to carry out the work. Who made the decision? On what basis? What qualifications did Six Star have? Was any corruption involved? If so, will those involved be tried?
After the demolition disaster, Six Star, Rajuk, Rangs — will they be made accountable for their misdeeds?
Is a life worth only one lakh taka — the sum that the government will pay as compensation for those who have died?
‘They don’t give us our dead’
An elderly man sat 50 feet away from the Rangs building on a second floor veranda of a shopping market. After the innards of the building had collapsed, many workers had taken shelter in this veranda. The elderly man had come to Dhaka early this morning with his son-in-law, in search of his son’s body. He muttered something when I asked him if he had spoken to anyone here. I couldn’t make sense, and repeated my question. I could barely make out what he said, “They don’t give us our dead.” He told me he had come from Gaibandha, and I thought to myself, now we can be sure that one of those who have died is from Gaibandha.
A woman has rushed over from Modhukhali. Her brother has suffered a head injury. But thankfully, he is alive, and he will live. At least ten people from Modhukhali are thought to have died in the demolition disaster.
Hajari, one of the workers hired for demolition said, one of the building’s security men is missing. He had last been seen on one of the topmost floors of the building. “It all happened in less than 30 seconds.” Hajari and the other workers had scrambled down the floors to save themselves.
I spoke to some of the workers and it seemed that no one from Rajuk or Six Star, at least not any one in a position of authority had contacted them, or spoken to them, let alone reassured them. Class distances are such that the workers themselves had not gathered the courage to talk to Rajuk officials.
Six Star company, Hajari told me, had brought the main group of workers from Chittagong. Being a port city, Chittagong is a place where people from different parts of the country migrate to in search of work. Hajari’s home is Barisal but he has lived for many years in Chitagong. “Six Star,” he said, “they will provide compensation. They are ever-ready. In Chittagong dock, every month you get to see one or two workers die, such accidents keep happening.” Most of those who had survived the Rangs disaster had been sent back by Six Star. Only 50 workers had been kept back for the rescue effort.
Six Star was paying the workers daily wages and also providing meal charges. From tonight (Dec 12) , the company would also arrange workers’ boarding. This is what Hajari had told me but when I spoke to two other workers, they said they were not being paid their regular wages. Neither were labour shordars giving them money to buy food.
On the market verandah I came across another worker, who was released yesterday from Dhaka Medical College. He had received back injuries, so said the hospital slip. He did not have the money to buy the medicine that had been prescribed. Painkillers on an empty stomach would do him more harm than good. He told me that he had slept on a thin sheet of cloth the night before, and that his pain had increased.
An old story of anguish and suffering
As we talked with the workers and their relatives, I noticed an elderly, bearded man speaking nearby. He was noticeably agitated. I took him to be a demolition worker. I moved closer to where he stood and heard him say, “If they had been the sons of MPs and Ministers, would the dead bodies have been left hanging? People would have been running around breathlessly. We are cchotolok, why should anyone bother?” I later found out that he didn’t work for Rangs, that he worked somewhere else nearby. Listening to him was like listening to a broken record. I was reminded yet again of how helpless poor people are.
It should not have happened. It should not have been allowed to happen. It is something that should have caused a government’s downfall. It is amazing that such things keep happening. Almost daily. And ceaselessly.
Newspaper reporting
At home, we read Prothom Alo. In terms of reporting, it is one of the finest newspapers in the country. I quickly skimmed the reportage on Rangs, once again today. None of the reports focus on who is to blame for the disaster, they tend to highlight the accident-al nature of the disaster. I see an editorial, but I do not have the time to read it. Those who read other newspapers will know how it has been reported in other dailies. Some may cite cyclone Sidr, or the harassment of university teachers as reasons for such reporting but I find it difficult to agree. I think the un-focused reporting is deliberate.
But I must not be too harsh. After all, it is news reporters who keep the story alive as those who are guilty hide behind screens of authority.
People’s distrust
Will the authorities really get rid of the dead bodies? Will they not hand over to grieving family members the bodies of their beloved ones? You may think I am jumping to conclusions but it is true that the whole process is shrouded in secrecies, and that those in authority are trying to save their skin.
Yesterday afternoon as I stood outside Rangs Bhaban, I could catch the faint smell of decomposing bodies. The smell will get stronger. Fire Brigade workers, who are on standby, do not know when rescue efforts will begin.
I belong to the ranks of the ordinary people, I belong to those who are toothless and clawless. Yet I cannot help but think, those who are guilty must not be allowed to get away. At least, not this time.
By Priscilla Raj
1:00 am, Dec13, 2007
Translation: Rahhuma Ahmed
Photo: Zaid Islam
December 15th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Thank you for this article.
I truly feel miserable after reading it. Miserable, and helpless.
December 16th, 2007 at 4:00 am
The blood tinged hand is ripping my heart. It’s unbearable to watch. It is absolutely painful. I am afraid to read the post. Please don’t tell me that the death was not instantaneous.
December 16th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Update from rahnuma, 15-16 Dec 2007: reported in Bangla Vision news, another body was recovered from the debris yesterday, bringing the total to five (four bodies recovered on Thurs 13 Dec). Body sent to DMCH morgue, relatives of workers from Modhukhali have decided to wait and see another day. One of them explained, how can we take back only three dead? Seven other families are waiting, what words can we offer to calm them [if we went ahead and buried our own]? They too have mothers, sisters, brothers… Another family member said, we come from the same place, we live either on this side of the road or that side..
Fire Service rescue workers are searching for dead bodies on the 8th floor where personal belongings of workers — a shirt or a pillow — have been spotted amidst the debris. One of the rescue workers said, ten of the workers had lived here, in this spot. The news reporter added, the stench of decomposing flesh is guiding the rescue operation.
December 16th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
“Why…?” How about, “Because we have *always* had one form or another of a govt aided by an equally corrupt and incompetent bureaucracy that never feels accountable to anyone”?
Don’t mean to extol virtues of a truly democratic system. Like all other things ideal, that may never exist. And George W Bush, Tony Blair, — and even Khaleda Zia! — have all shown us how this system too, can be manipulated to the extent where communism doesn’t look so bad.
It is up to the middle class outside the power nexus, the same group that led the freedom movement against the Pakistani colonialists, to once again start and lead a mass movement for bringing the house to some kind of order.
The only problem may be, we being Bangalees, after the next “revolution,” those of us at the forefront will become the new power nexus and the cycle will begin anew.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:00 am
I want to go to the root.When the judiciary sanctioned the demolition of Rangs I did not liked the decision. Though that was acclaimed by the public and media. The following points need serious considertaion:
1. Whether the judiciary can oblivious of the fact of callousness of the executive organs of the state. If not, Whether it should have satisfied itself prior to giving permission to break the building, that the govt. is well and scientifically equipped with for the purpose?
2. Justice should not only be done but manifestly and abundantly be seen to be done—this maxim is shattered in the decision of the court.
3. The executive body have perpetrated homicide under the authority of law on the pretext of illegal construction of Rangs. Can an illegality be thwarted by a huge civil consequences?
4. What is the governemnt response? You are the Chief Adviser–did you visit the casualties–rather you are going to pilgrimage, will your hajj be granted by the Almighty?
5. If ways are made removing rangs how people interest will be uphold? Example: how people are benefitted by Mohakhali Flyover? Could you say?
December 19th, 2007 at 8:15 am
5 more bodies were discovered yesterday. Nine days later. Four of the dead were from Modhukhali.
A Shomokal report says, the bodies were identified by the dead men’s brothers. The stench of decomposing flesh hangs over the fourth floor. Rajuk authorities say, more time will be required to recover the remaining bodies since recovery efforts will be halted for 3 day Eid holidays, 19-21 Dec. Relatives of the dead have expressed their anger and frustration at the government, and at Rajuk authorities. They said that the government had failed to act because those who were trapped were ordinary people. Rajuk, they said, does not value the lives of the poor. They added, if the lives of important people had been at stake, neither the government nor Rajuk would have been as unconcerned.
Costs of transporting the dead, and burial expenses have been handed over to the relatives by Works Ministry officals. Compensation money has been forwarded to the district administration of Faridpur.
Rangs building is now supported by iron pipes, both the two storied basement, and eight floors above. A Rajuk progress report on recovery efforts submitted to the Works Ministry yesterday says, steps have been taken to prop eight floors with iron pipes so that new accidents don’t occur. Broken slabs, bits of concrete, and sharp edges hang all around, it is feared that a movement or impact may cause these to fall. BUET experts are closely working with the government and providing necessary advice to prevent further accidents.
The Shomokal report added, the building has lost the ability to stand tall if unaided by iron pipes.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:39 am
An absolute moving article. An eye opener indeed. I hope this article will be as an eyeopener to others as it has been for me. Thank you.