Those who deny scope for workers' voice must not represent people: NCP's Akhter
People who deny the scope to voice workers' rights should not be granted positions within the state or as public representatives, Member Secretary of the National Citizen Party (NCP) Akhtar Hossain has said.
"It is very unfortunate that the government has not been able to ensure that the workers –who keep the country's economic wheels moving – will be able to spend their working lives safely at their workplaces," he said at a rally in observation of 12 years of the Rana Plaza tragedy in Savar, organised by the NCP today (24 April).
The NCP leader also asked the interim government to immediately try the accused in the Rana Plaza collapse cases and make the trial process visible.
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He attributed the failure to ensure a safe workplace for workers to the corrupt and rotten political culture.
Akhter also placed several demands from his party, including compensation for the Rana Plaza victims and their families, their rehabilitation and establishment of a specilaised hospital for workers.
"The most responsible factor behind the loss of workers' lives at Rana Plaza is the political power of Sohel Rana [owner of the factory]. The Awami League government corrupted politics in such a way that the country's workers fell into that trap and had to lose their lives," he said.
He also asserted that the Awami League at the time restricted foreign agencies from engaging in the rescue operations at Rana Plaza to obscure the incident from international media coverage.
Akhter further alleged that Savar Awami League leader Enam had devised a mechanism to conceal the bodies of the victims under the guise of rescue.
Alleging that the foreign grants for the Rana Plaza victims were misappropriated, Akhter demanded those involved in the embezzlement be brought to book.
The NCP leader also demanded that 24 April, the day Rana Plaza collapsed 12 years ago, be declared as "National Labour Day".
He pointed out that some 20 cases were filed in connection with the deadly Rana Plaza collapse, but only one accused remains behind bars at present.
