A demonstrator gestures as protesters clash with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the police outside the state-owned Bangladesh Television as violence erupts across the country after anti-quota protests by students, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 19, 2024. Photo: Reuters
The families of each of the martyrs of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement will receive Tk 5 lakh from the July Shaheed Smriti Foundation.
Each of the injured will be provided a maximum of Tk 1 lakh, according to a decision taken at the first meeting of the foundation’s executive committee at State Guest House Jamuna with Chief Adviser Dr Yunus in the chair on Wednesday (September 18).
The fund for the injured will be released as soon as possible, while cheques will be handed over to the families of the martyrs at an event in the capital.
The committee urged everyone to make donations. It has also decided to find an office space and volunteers to run its operations. The foundation will preserve and archive all the videos, images, oral history and other documents and memorabilia of the July-August mass uprising.
Prof Yunus told the meeting that donations of even the smallest amount should be documented and the list of the donors should also be preserved. If possible, their names should be published on the website of the foundation.
"This foundation is an important milestone. We must strive hard to make it a success," he said.
He said the health ministry would pay for the treatment of the injured. The compensation that the foundation will be giving to the injured will be in addition to the government's treatment expenses, Dr Yunus added.
Nearly a thousand people, including many students, were killed and thousands were injured during the student-led movement that ended Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic reign.
Advisers to the interim government Sharmeen Murshid, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, general secretary of the foundation Mir Mahbubur Rahman Singdho and its treasurer Kazi Waqar Ahmad participated in the meeting.