Fortune never favoured Obaidul Hasan Babul. After losing his home in Manikganj to river erosion, he and his family came to Dhaka to eke out a living. Now, after Babul's death in the blast that ripped through the Café Queen building in Old Dhaka on Mar 7, his family is struggling.
Apart from a one-off payment to cover funeral expenses, the 19 families who lost their loved ones to the deadly Siddique Bazar explosion have not received any compensation from the authorities.
Rescuers have yet to find a way to enter the basement of the Café Queen building in Old Dhaka’s Siddique Bazar, which was rocked by a devastating explosion that left 17 people dead and several others missing.