‘Do they really matter?’

Those who work in garment factories may be responsible for Bangladesh’s cutting edge textile exports now valued at close to $ 20 billion a year.

Mckinsey says this could double to cross $ 40 billion by the turn of the decade.

But when their owners locate these workers in factories set up in dodgy buildings or fail to take adequate safety measures to prevent fire, these hard working men and women are left at the mercy of the Almighty.

Many have died in fires that devastated their factories in recent years.

Now several, dozens actually, may have died in the Rana Plaza collapse.

It is still not clear how many because the death toll is steadily rising.

For the thousands who worked in the four garment factories in the Rana Plaza, it was their daily bread that mattered.

For the owners, it was ‘profit’ that drove them to push the workers to their daily grind in a building that was ruled as structurally dangerous by local engineers.

After the Rana Plaza owner ruled out anything serious in the cracks that were showing up , several workers say they were forced into the factory on Wednesday morning by owners keen not to loose out on output.

Industrial police confirms the owners of the factories pushed to resume production.

Interviews of many injured broadcast on television brings out the fate of these hapless workers.

Some blamed owners for ‘forcing us inside’ with sticks, others said they feared a collapse and many asked who will bear the responsbility for the deaths now. “We want justice” said one garment worker into cameras closing in.

When asked how many might still be inside the debris, came the cry “Many more… Many more.”

Garment workers, mostly women, make up for what is Bangladesh’s most effective export industry.

But as the debate rages on whether the US should continue the GSP arrangement for Bangladesh textiles – some say it should not, citing poor working conditions – the plight of the garment worker, the faceless cog in the giant wheel that boosts Bangladesh fortunes gets swept under the carpet.

The owner of the building, Sohel Rana, backed by his party colleagues, quietly leaves the collapsed Plaza, unhurt, unscathed. On Tuesday he had laughed off the ceiling collapse as ‘nothing serious.’

Home Minister M K Alamgir promises tough action after probe. But one is yet to be announced and may take a while to wind up.

The ground and first floors of the plaza had shops selling electronic goods, computers, perfumes, garments, and also had a branch of BRAC Bank.

On the second floor was New Wave Bottoms Limited. Phantom Apparels Ltd was on the third floor while Phantom Tack Ltd was on the fourth floor and Ethar Textile Ltd on the fifth floor.

Around 6,000 workers used to work in these factories, locals said.

Similar misery was witnessed not long ago. In November last year, about 100 perished at Tazreen Fashions at Asulia, not far from the Rana Plaza, in a devastating fire.

But as the media guns fell silent after a few weeks of hyperactivity, Tazreen became a footnote in the tale of the faceless millions who work in Bangladesh’s thousands of garment factories.

Rana Plaza will become an endnote once the heat and dust of media coverage has settled on the faceless bodies.