Advisor admits government ‘share’ of blame over delayed Milestone compensation

A year after the crash, he says affected families are still waiting for the support they were promised

Information Advisor Zahed Ur Rahman says the government “shares responsibility” for failing to compensate victims and families a year after the Milestone air crash.

Responding to questions at a press conference on Tuesday, Zahed said the authorities will ensure the announced payments reach the affected families.

He added that the recommendations made in the investigation report would be considered.

"I want to emphasise that I will personally raise the compensation issue and try to ensure it reaches the families quickly," he said.

"It is unfortunate that, even after one year, these families have not received compensation. We have also been in office for five months, so this is partly our failure as well. We will try to make up for it."

On Jul 21 last year, an air force training aircraft crashed into the Milestone School and College campus, killing 36 people, most of them children, in Bangladesh's deadliest air disaster.

The following day, the High Court issued a rule over compensation of Tk 50 million for each victim killed and Tk 10 million for each injured survivor.

Later, a meeting led by then interim government advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan decided to provide Tk 2 million to each bereaved family and Tk 500,000 to each injured victim.

Affected families rejected the amounts as unrealistic, and the issue has remained unresolved.

Responding to another question, Advisor Zahed said he would personally urge the prime minister to support the families and consider their remaining demands, including holding discussions with their representatives.

On calls to recognise the children as “martyrs”, he said the government would examine all demands.