Everyone knows the dialogue between the tailor-bird and the sparrow about the place of residence in the poem "The Happiness of Independence" written by the famous lyricist and poet Rajinikanth Sen. "I live happily in the building, how much you suffer in the sun, rain and storm". The reality of the sparrow's dialogue with the tailor- bird is brutal. The 'building of great happiness' is built in exchange for the life of the day laborers who are toiling in the society. The sweat and blood of the workers are mixed in every brickwork of these towering buildings. In spite of brutal death while working at risk of life, in the end there is no justice or proper compensation. Rather, the relatives of the deceased were forced to compromise on nominal compensation under the pressure of political and public representatives.
As happened in the case of three workers killed when bamboo scaffolding collapsed from a ten-storey building under construction at Mayakanan in Sabuj Bagh of the capital. On the morning of May 17 (Friday) this year, they fell down while doing plaster work on the outer wall of the building. Two workers named Altabur (40) and Antar (20) died on the spot. Mofizul (20) died after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with serious injuries. In this incident, Afroza Begum, the wife of the deceased worker Altabur, filed a case of negligent homicide against building owner Aminul Haque Bhuiyan (51) and contractor Farooq Hossain (40) at Sabuj Bagh police station. Even after 13 days of the case, no one was arrested. Instead, it was settled for only for Tk. 3 lakh.
When asked about the progress of the case, Sabujbag police station officer-in-charge (OC) Praloy Kumar Saha told Barta24.com that the investigation of the case is underway. However, two days after the incident, the accused got bail from the lower court. So we could not go to them.
When attention was drawn to the fact that the defendants have settled the case, he said, "I am not aware of this matter." No one approached me about this. And since the accused are on bail, I don't have any such information.
It is said that Mayakanan spoke to several workers and masons who worked in that building, and some local influential people, including Chittaranjan Das, councilor of Ward No. 5 of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), compromised on May 22. In the meeting held at the house of contractor Farooq, it was said that each worker's family will be given Tk. 3 lakh. On the day of the incident, Tk. 50,000 has already been paid for hospital expenses and car rental expenses for carrying the dead body. The remaining two and a half lakh taka was supposed to be paid on 29th, but the workers have not received any money. The owner took another 3 to 4 days. The contractor and the owner are pressuring the family members of the workers to sign the stamp with Tk. 1 lakh. The remaining amount will be paid after the case is dismissed. But the relatives did not agree.
When asked about intervening in the death of three workers, DSCC Ward No. 5 Councilor Chittaranjan Das told Barta24.com, "I have heard about the death of the workers. No one came to me. I don't even know the home owner or the contractor. Even the families of the dead workers did not come to me. Hence the question of arbitration does not arise.
According to the statistics of Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (BILS), 4 thousand 758 workers lost their lives during construction work in the last five years. 3 thousand 248 workers were injured. In 2023, the number of deaths of workers in various professions is 742. Out of which the number of construction workers is 118. 65 people were injured. That is, 15 percent of the total worker deaths are construction workers. According to the data published by various media about the death of workers, in 2022, 1 thousand 34 workers died in various occupations. One thousand 37 people were injured. In 2021, 1 thousand 53 people were killed and 594 people were injured. In 2020, 729 people were killed and 433 people were injured. In 2019, 1200 people were killed, 695 people were injured.
In addition to falling from buildings or being killed in accidents while doing construction work, there are also cases of torture and killing of construction workers. 9 construction workers lost their lives in torture in 2023.
Many construction workers died and were injured beyond the news published in the media. Which is influenced by local and political people, its news is not published in any media. Those remains hidden. As a result, many families lose the main income earner of the family and live an inhumane life.
In January of this year, the youngest son of Abu Saeed of Mominpur Jangra village of Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat district died while working on the roofing of a multi-storied building in Aftab Nagar, Badda of the capital. Bayezid (20) used to support his elderly parents with his own income. The family did not file a case regarding his death. They compromised in exchange of only Tk. 2 lakh.
Confirming the fact, the deceased's elder brother Shahin said that the younger brother died while working. We did not file a case. What will happen if you file a lawsuit? The owner of the house came to our house. He told his father to give Tk. 2 lakh to trade with it. They didn't look any further.
When asked about the death of construction workers and the subsequent settlement, Executive Director of Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (BILS) Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed told Barta24.com that there is no implementation of the labor law as it is weak. Punishment and compensation in cases of worker death are less in Bangladesh law. As a result, the owner does not care about the safety of the workers. A nominal penalty and a fine of two lakh taka in case of death due to negligence of a worker. As a result, the relatives of the workers compromise in exchange of nominal money to avoid the lengthy process of the case.
Sultan Uddin Ahmed, who has worked for a long time on the rights of workers, also said that most of our workers are from rural areas. They come to him as a result, unions do not work for them. And even if it works in one or two cases, that too is city-centric. In most cases the family does not come forward. Various contracting companies are taking advantage of this.
He also said that it is the responsibility of the government to make the working environment of a country safe. There are labor laws for that. To ensure the safety of a worker as per that Act. Informing him of potential risks. It is the owner's responsibility to provide training and safety equipment. It is also the responsibility of the government to see whether the owner is fulfilling his responsibilities or not. But the unfortunate thing is that most of the big companies don't take it seriously. And the works of these workers of the government, who are responsible to look after them, do not properly inspect them. They go to some big projects but they don't go to privately owned buildings. However, many workers died in these buildings.
