DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Families of Bangladesh textile workers killed in the Rana Plaza tragedy started Monday submitting claims for compensation, 11 months after the disaster that killed more than 1,100 people.
The first batch of 22 claims were filed with officials overseeing a $40 million compensation fund, made up of donations from leading Western retailers in the wake of the country's worst textile disaster.
Wahid Soruar, a Bangladesh official overseeing the claims process from the industrial area of Savar outside the capital, said all families of the dead workers and those injured would be paid in coming months.
"We've launched the claims processing today," Soruar said. "Hopefully, claims for all 3,600 survivors and beneficiaries will be processed within three to four months."
All families will receive a minimum 50,000 taka ($650) by 24 April, the first anniversary of the tragedy, as an advance payment on their total compensation claims, said the International Labor Organization (ILO), which is backing the fund.
A Bangladesh legal aid group is scrutinizing the claims from the ILO-backed fund, and a three-member panel headed by a former Bangladesh chief justice will verify and oversee the process, he said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
