Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The devastating fire which struck the capital’s Bashundhara Shopping Mall on Sunday morning emerged again in the evening creating fresh panic among the traders, employees and shoppers.
The fire hit at a time when shop owners were preparing for brisk business during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha festival.
The city owner authorities failed to clean the market till Monday night and they have failed to ensure the resume the normal activities due to slow motion manage system. But the some officials of the market confirmed that the market will not return to normalcy before Thursday.
The loss of the traders and contractual
employees have already crossed Tk 60 crore and it will cross hundred crore if the city authorities take more days to reopen the market.
The market authorities have made a six-member probe body to investigate into the repeated fire incidents and estimate the loss and damage in the fire. Also Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD) authorities on Sunday formed a five-member probe body to inquiry the incident.
During visit in the shopping mall area, the goods and other things found haphazardly scattered in and around the market.
The fire service personnel and Bashundhara city staff are seen working slowly to clear the market which is frightening the people for Eid shopping.
Many people, including shoppers expressed their opinion that they would have avoided the market to consider the safety issue during the purchasing as they have gathered bitter experience of repeated fire incidents in last seven years.
The loss in the fire estimated over Tk 60 crore as more than 100 shops were burnt in the fire, said MA Hannan Azad, President of the city shop owners’ association.
“We will count more loss if the authorities concerned will not allow to open the shop soon,” he said.
If the buyers avoid the market considering the safety issue in the competitive period mainly ahead of the Eid then we will be bound to stop the business in the market, the business leader opined.
Hannan Azad expressed his dissatisfaction over the concerned authority’s fire safety management and operational system of Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD).
He questioned how it was possible to break out the fire in different floors during ongoing operations?
He sought compensation from the market authority for repeated fire incidents in the market that makes them loss everything very often.
“At around 11:00 in the morning, a new shipment of shoes worth Taka two lakh was brought into the store, which caught fire just half an hour later. Everything inside burned down,” said Sohel Rana, owner of ‘Shoe Mart’, situated at level six of the shopping complex.
He said his store had shoes worth around Tk one crore as he had ordered new shipments anticipating the Eid sales.
The people would avoid the market for repeated fire incidents, he feared.
Contacted, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD) Director (Operations) Major AKM Shakil Newaz said that the fire engulfed three floors due to existence of PVC types plastic materials.
“We have taken few hours to take the fire under control due to huge smoke and rough weather,” he said.
General Manager of Banshundhara City (HR and Admin) Major (rtd) Mostafa Rahen Emam said, “We have formed a six-member probe body to investigate the fire incident.”
He said, over 1800 shops in the mall would incur of huge loss due to the fire. He also claimed that the shopping mall has also become partially damaged in the fire.
On Sunday, the latest fire spread on three floors (Level-6, 7 & 8) of the shopping center in the evning.
Earlier on March 13, 2009, seven employees of the shopping complex, including its own firefighters, died in a fire incident in the shopping mall.
Another incident of fire occurred at the shopping mall on August 24 in the same year and another in September 2015.
