THE High Court has raised the question who was mainly responsible for the Chawkbazar inferno that took 69 lives when the Dhaka South City Corporation and other government agencies did not perform their designated duties in line with the experts’ recommendations made after the Nimtoli fire in 2010.The Nimtoli fire, which was also spread through chemical warehouses, killed 124 lives and injured 200 others. The probe body had recommended 17-point action plan to evade such chemical-fire in Old Dhaka – known as “virtual gunpowder storage”– but none heard of the caution, resulting in Chawkbazar tragedy. The two fire incidents should be eye-opener. Thus our endless reluctance to the danger should be ended.
The HC Bench in its observation said owners of many buildings in Old Dhaka live in the posh neighbourhoods of Gulshan and Banani and lease their own buildings for use as chemical godowns for earning handsome amounts but the DSCC authorities turn a blind eye to the issue. After the Nimtoli tragedy, the probe committee had made recommendations including relocating the warehouses to nonresidential areas, enforcing Fire Prevention and Extinguishing Rules 2003 and Bangladesh National Building Code, installing separate hydrant points in different areas and creating awareness among the children through textbooks. But most of the recommendations were not followed.
According to media reports, there are more than 25,000 chemical warehouses in Old Dhaka, of which around 15,000 are in the residential buildings. Fire Service officials said only around two percent storehouses have permission from the city corporation. Most of the warehouses store chemicals and dyes, largely used in readymade garment and textile factories. One of the main reasons behind the availability of such storehouses in Old Dhaka is their cheaper rent compared to those in other parts in the city. Moreover, around 98 percent of the chemical warehouses are illegal and they operate at night. After the Nimtoli fire, the government had pledged to relocate chemical warehouses to Keraniganj but all the efforts went in vain.
The government needs to identify and punish the responsible officials for whose utter negligence the fire tragedy had occurred in Old Dhaka. We don’t want recurrence of another Chawkbazar or Nimtoli tragedy in the future.
