Cultural activists recalled the Rana Plaza collapse at a cultural programme held at the Lalmatia Housing Society Field in the capital on Wednesday.
Theatre troupe BotTala organised the programme titled 鈥楰arkhana Keno Bondi Shibir?鈥� marking the 11th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse.
On April 24, 2013, Rana Plaza, a multi-storied building comprising five garment factories at Savar, collapsed in the blink of an eye, killing over 1,100 garment workers and injuring over 2,400.
The cultural programme featured street plays, recitations, songs, an exhibition and speeches, among others, which began with a one-minute silence marking the day.
BotTala founding member and Dhaka University sociology department associate professor Samina Luthfa delivered the welcome speech at the programme.
She said, 鈥榃e are organising this programme marking the 11th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse. We want to organise programmes every year marking the day.鈥�
The exhibition featured photographs by three photographers, including Subhro Kanti Das, Rahul Talukdar and Taslima Akhter; paintings by seven children of workers and family photographs collected from families of victims depicting the horrifying aftermath of the collapse of Rana Plaza.
Taslima Akhter said that each of the family photos contains stories and dreams of the victims.
鈥楾hose dreams might have come true if Rana Plaza had not collapsed that day,鈥� said Taslima Akhter.
BotTala artistes staged a street play titled 鈥楯otugriho鈥�. Inspired by the Tazreen Fashion fire, the play has been written by Samina Luthfa in protest against the deadly fire incident. The play has been directed by BotTala executive committee member Mohammad Ali Haider.
Besides, theatre troupe Prachyanat staged its production titled 鈥楽ui-Suta鈥�, written and directed by Sahana Rahman Sumi; theatre Bayanno staged 鈥楨kti Shahoshi Phul Dekha Jai鈥�, written and directed by Mizanur Rahman; Opera staged 鈥楶akhir Bhabishyat鈥�, written and directed by Nahid Smriti and Natnandan staged 鈥楳rityu Duar Khola鈥�, written and directed by Asma Akther Liza.
Child recitation artistes from Nobo Ananda recited Sukumar Ray鈥檚 poem Chaya Baji and Shamima Shawket鈥檚 Prithibir Pheresta while recitation artiste Mehedi Hasan Akash recited poems Rana Plaza and Julmat Miya, among others.
Besides, singer Farzana Wahid Shayan and cultural organisation Samageet Sangskriti Prangan, among others, rendered songs marking the day.