Old Dhaka is still at fire risk

Despite repeated fire tragedy at the old part of Dhaka city, people living there are exposed to fire risks as highly flammable chemicals are being stored there for Eid-ul-Azha purposes. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday, flammables like bisulfite and dimethylamine are needed to remove hair from the rawhide and these are being kept at various residential buildings.

God forbid, if any spark of fire catches these chemicals, it can quickly create an inferno in the extremely congested place of old Dhaka. Behind all the great fire tragedies of old Dhaka including the ones at Nimtoli or Chawkbazaar, were chemicals stacked in these places.

Fire tragedies recur in old Dhaka because businessmen ignore the government ban on storing inflammable materials there. After the tragedy at Chawkbazaar last year, the fact that people were in the habit of keeping the flammables there illegally came to the fore and from the government it was said that ban on keeping these materials would be enforced, but the ground reality is that this was not to be so.  

For the Eid-ul-Azha, leather traders are storing bisulfite and dimethylamine as they expect to collect around one crore pieces of rawhide after sacrifice of animals. In doing so they are flouting the government's directive to remove chemical godowns from residential areas of old Dhaka. Reportedly, at least 40 drums of chemicals were stored at the ground floor of a building in Khajedewan three days back. The same situation is prevailing almost everywhere in old city areas like Nimtoli, Posta, Armanitola and Bangshal.

The government’s relevant authorities including the law enforcement agencies must take serious note of this fact and bar the leather businesspeople to remove their stocks of chemicals from the place as soon as possible. The people who have violated the directive are also needed to be punished to give the business community of Old Dhaka as a whole that the government is very serious about the matter.

Most of the fire incidents that take place in old Dhaka are due to the negligence to the fire safety issue, as much by the people who live there as it is by the government which has conspicuously failed to sensitize them against their own folly. It is expected that things will change from now on.   

 

 

Old Dhaka is still at fire risk

Despite repeated fire tragedy at the old part of Dhaka city, people living there are exposed to fire risks as highly flammable chemicals are being stored there for Eid-ul-Azha purposes. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday, flammables like bisulfite and dimethylamine are needed to remove hair from the rawhide and these are being kept at various residential buildings. God forbid, if any spark of fire catches these chemicals, it can quickly create an inferno in the extremely congested place of old Dhaka. Behind all the great fire tragedies of old Dhaka including the ones at Nimtoli or Chawkbazaar, were chemicals stacked in these places. Fire tragedies recur in old Dhaka because businessmen ignore the government ban on storing inflammable materials there. After the tragedy at Chawkbazaar last year, the fact that people were in the habit of keeping the flammables there illegally came to the fore and from the government it was said that ban on keeping these materials would be enforced, but the ground reality is that this was not to be so. For the Eid-ul-Azha, leather traders are storing bisulfite and dimethylamine as they expect to collect around one crore pieces of rawhide after sacrifice of animals. In doing so they are flouting the governments directive to remove chemical godowns from residential areas of old Dhaka. Reportedly, at least 40 drums of chemicals were stored at the ground floor of a building in Khajedewan three days back. The same situation is prevailing almost everywhere in old city areas like Nimtoli, Posta, Armanitola and Bangshal. The governments relevant authorities including the law enforcement agencies must take serious note of this fact and bar the leather businesspeople to remove their stocks of chemicals from the place as soon as possible. The people who have violated the directive are also needed to be punished to give the business community of Old Dhaka as a whole that the government is very serious about the matter. Most of the fire incidents that take place in old Dhaka are due to the negligence to the fire safety issue, as much by the people who live there as it is by the government which has conspicuously failed to sensitize them against their own folly. It is expected that things will change from now on.