Inflammable chemicals
Highly inflammable chemicals such as Sodium Bisulfite and Dimethylamine that are used in the leather industry for removal of hair from rawhides were being stored in various residential buildings in old Dhaka before the Eid-ul-Azha heightening the risks of deadly fire incidents. A report on this appeared in this newspaper on September 24. According to it, 20 drums containing Dimethylamine, a highly corrosive chemical that can cause fire, were kept on the ground floor of a residential building at Lalbagh. Leather traders expecting to collect around 60 lakh pieces of rawhide after this years Eid-ul-Azha were storing these chemicals that are necessary for processing rawhides in the residential buildings, flouting the governments directive of removing chemical godowns from old Dhaka. The tragic fire incident that occurred at Nimtoli in old Dhaka on June 3,2010 killing 134 people, is still fresh in memory.
After the fire at Nimtoli a taskforce comprising representatives of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, RAB, police and the district administration set up 79 mobile courts in different parts of Dhaka. Five years have elapsed since the government issued a directive on September 30,2010 to shift all chemical godowns out of the old part of the city, but not a single one has been relocated. It is a very disturbing piece of information.
It is surprising to note that no godowns were shifted, even after the magistrates of various mobile courts set a deadline of seven days on several occasions. The mobile courts could realize only Tk. 39,02,000 in fines from the godown owners. Many godown owners got away after paying fines as if they got licenses to carry on their illegal business showing thumbs to the administration. Some godown owners even went to the extent of filing court cases against the taskforce for fining them. Six godowns were shown shifted, but those were shifted from one densely populated residential area to another. What difference did it make ?
The owners of godowns containing inflammable chemicals should be reined in immediately. They cannot be allowed to play with human lives. Who can tell that another tragedy like the one at Nimtoli will not occur any time taking a huge toll of lives ? The government must force the traders to shift their godowns from the residential at the fastest.
