It was not easy to get compensation
Md. Kajal is a permanently disabled worker. He was born in a poor family in Char Chatkimara village of Bhola Sadar Upazila. At the age of 15, he started working as a day labourer. He moved to Barisal City Market Kacha Bazar to work loading and unloading goods. On September 16, 2018, he was seriously injured when a 50 kg bag of chillies fell on his head while unloading goods from a truck. About 5 months of treatment, there was no permanent improvement and he became permanently disabled.
After being injured in the accident, Kajol was first treated at Barisal Medical College Hospital, later at Dhaka Medical and Savar CRP Hospitals. His family had to take loans from the work of various neighboring relatives to meet the medical expenses.
Kajal, who was injured in the accident, is a daily labourer. He worked as a load – unload worker in Barisal City Market Kacha Bazar. And while doing this load unloading work, he was injured in an accident and became permanently disabled. According to the Bangladesh Labor Act, compensation for permanent disability in case of work accident is BDT.2,50,000/- and the employer is supposed to bear the medical expenses, but the employer has not given him any compensation or medical expenses. On the other hand, he was unable to pay the treatment and the loan due to lack of money
A representative of the Safety and Rights Society (SRS) met the wife of an injured worker, Kajol, while collecting information on injured workers at the CRP hospital. SRS representative informed him about free legal aid after hearing the details of the incident. Later, the legal team of SRS contacted the injured worker Kajol and told them to take action against the owner as per labor laws and to send the necessary medical documents to the office of SRS. After receiving the necessary documents, SRS legal team sent a legal notice to the employer through Kajol demanding a total of BDT 3, 50,000/- for medical expenses and compensation. As the owner did not respond after receiving the notice, the legal team decided to file a case for recovery of compensation against the owner of Storehouse. On January 15, 2020, a case was filed in the Barisal Divisional Labor Court with the help of Bangladesh legal aid and services trust (BLAST). The case number was 01/2020. About 3 years after the suit was filed, the owner requested an out-of-court settlement of the dispute through conciliation. Last December 2021, the owner agreed to pay BDT. 100000/- through negotiations. Finally, on January 19, 2022, the injured worker Kajol was paid Tk 100,000/- as compensation through before the learned Divisional Labor Court, Barisal, and he withdrew the case from the court.
Kajol is very happy to get compensation almost three and a half years after being injured in an accident. He said the people I worked under were very influential so it was not easy to get compensation. After receiving the notice they threatened me several times on mobile phone and said that they will look after me. I think compensation is my right and I had to fight to get this right and I won against all obstacles and it was possible for SRS. The representative of SRS told me that I will get the compensation amount and I also believed that even if it is 10 taka I will get the compensation. After receiving the money, I paid off some debts with 10,000 taka. I have deposited the remaining 90,000 taka in the bank
He also said that, I am a landless person with no residential house of my own. Now I want to renovate that house and make my own address. My hope is that I will have an address of my own. So I need a house of my own very much. My wish is that if the government does not repair the house that I got from the government, then I will repair the house with this money.
If I can stay at my own address, I can eat and if I can’t, I can still sleep peacefully” said Kajol.
