KARACHl: Heirs of the Baldia Town factory fire victims staged a rally on Tuesday from Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club and reiterated their earlier demand about full compensation instead of instalments.

The event was jointly held by the National Trade Union Federation and the Association of the Affectees of Baldia tragedy.

Families present at the rally demanded that they be paid the recently agreed upon compensation in full.

The families were referring to a recent agreement between German retailer, KiK, and labour unions in Geneva in September.

According to the agreement, KiK agreed to pay $5 million in instalments.

The agreement came after the German government asked the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to mediate between KiK and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and to decide how the compensation will be distributed.

The German retailer had earlier paid $1m as compensation to the heirs of the victims who died in the fire at Baldia Town`s Ali Enterprises on Sept 11, 2012. Eventually, the German retailer was accused by the labour organisations for not respecting other similar agreements.

A legal battle between the labour organisations and the German retailer led to the involvement of the German government wanting to settle the issue amicably and ethically. A decision to include the ILO as mediator was accepted by all parties in April this year.

A fact-finding commission of the ILO recently visited Karachi and presented recommendations to better working conditions for labourers in factories across Karachi.

However, during a meeting on the premises of the Pakistan Medical Association on Sept 25, the victims` families had refused to accept the condition of getting the compensation in instalments.

The demand coincided with the arrival of the ILO commission on Sept 26.

Saeeda Bibi, head of the Association of the Affectees of Baldia Tragedy, said that the demand was due to the `long-drawn process of compensation disbursement`.

This was reiterated by the families, who congregated outside the KPC. They added that it would be `better to receive the compensation in one go than to be held back in case the German retailer decides to back off yet again.