Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Monday directed the authorities concerned to submit a detailed report on measures taken for fire safety at the high-rise buildings in Dhaka city.
The Mayors of Dhaka North and South City Corporations, Rajuk Chairman and Director General (DG) of Fire Service and Civil Defence have been asked to jointly submit the report to the HC in four months.
In response to a writ petition, the court also ordered the DG of Fire Service to submit a separate report in a month on manpower, equipment and other necessary things they have for dousing the fire.
The court also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain in two weeks as to why construction of the buildings without sufficient fire safety measures should not be declared illegal.
In the rule, the court also asked the government to show causes as to why it should not be directed to set up a fire station at Gulshan area of Dhaka.
The HC in the rule also asked the government as to why it should not be directed to pay compensation to families of the victims who lost their lives in the fire incidents in Chawkbazar and F R Tower in Banani.
The order came following the deaths of at least 26 people in a deadly blaze in the 22-storey F R Tower at Banani on Thursday. Fire safety experts found that the commercial high-rise lacked any safe fire exit.
After the Gulshan market fire in January 2017, the Fire Service department identified that about 200 commercial high-rises in Banani and Gulshan had no approved fire safety plan.
