Asked, the ministry and the DSCC authorities said they were working to reach the compensation money to the families, adding that the promised money and jobs would be given "soon".

The apparent noncommittal "soon" does not help the young bride of 29-year-old Mahbubur Rahman Raju Miah, who used to work at a mobile phone servicing shop in Chawkbazar. They were married just 26 days before the fire took Raju's life.

When Raju died, she had not even completed high school. And all on a sudden, she realised that she was pregnant. Still, she gathered courage and cleared her HSC exams. She gave birth to a baby boy later in November, said her family members.

Raju's brother Meraj said he visited the ministry in late August last year, a day after he got a phone call from there. "The date was August 30. They took our documents and said we need to wait for the head of the state to hand us our cheques, and so we left," he said.

It has been more than five months since then, with no phone call and no news from the ministry.

On the other hand, the family of paanwalah Mohammad Ibrahim had gone to the labour ministry on October 29 last year after getting a phone call from a ministry official. Once there, they were told that they wouldn't be getting anything.

"I went to the Secretariat building and then dialed the number I had received the call from. The voice on the other side asked me to wait. A person then came up with a list and asked me whether Ibrahim's name was on that list. It wasn't, and so we were not let in," said Ibrahim's brother-in-law Nurnabi.

Nurnabi could not name the official who called him. "We feel like we were being harassed," he said.

The Daily Star collected a list of the deceased workers, who are supposed to receive the compensation money from the ministry. Ibrahim's name is at the top.