Fire incidents in the capital city, particularly in its old part, appear to be common occurring at regular intervals. Such incidents leave dozens killed and hundreds injured ever year.
The recent fire incident at Nawab Bari in old Dhaka has given us a distressing sign that such havoc may take place at any time. Earlier it was in the same area where fire had broken out with its most terrible consequences at Nimtoli. Never before in the past had we witnessed so many deaths and burnt people in the same incident.
Narrow lanes, closely-constructed buildings with outdated architectural designs, cheap accommodation, and crowed habitation etc are attributed to regular fire incidents in this area. The fire is also caused mainly due disorderly placement of electric lines and transformers. Small factories and storage of chemical substance in old Dhaka have added a devastating consequence to the problem.
The old part of the city is of architectural, cultural and historical significance. We should reconstruct and renovate buildings in old city preserving these precious things of the glorious past at any cost as these speak of the rich culture of this country. But reformation of these age-old architectural sites is a crucial need considering the danger of fire incidents. It is also time to help the people residing there to live in a hygienic condition and without death risks.
It has been observed that around 80 per cent of the residential houses in old Dhaka comprise factories and warehouses on the ground floors and residential flats on other floors. Almost all the factories or the warehouses are either of chemicals or of plastic materials both of which are perilously combustible and poisonous. A newspaper report said about 50 thousand houses are not fit for accommodation and 22 thousand of them are high-risk to live in. Approximately, there are 3 million people living in old Dhaka facing risks of death almost every day.
On the other hand, the electric lines in Old Dhaka are not checked on regular basis and arranged in order. Do the chemical warehouses have the required clearances? If they have, then how could they get those? If they do not have, what were all the agencies, tasked to issue licences and monitor compliances doing all these years?
The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) is responsible for keeping an eye on the urbanisation process. Is it not the responsibility of the RAJUK to make sure whether the city is growing in a planned way to ensure safety and comfort of the city dwellers? That it is quite callous towards its job is obvious due to the fact that during emergency situation, the Fire Brigade cannot come close to the spot of fire incidents owing to narrow roads.
The problem is not confined to old city only; new Dhaka is not even safe. Hundreds of buildings have been constructed under the very nose of the RAJUK violating the Building Construction Act as well as the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC)?
What the authority concerned should do is to review the causes and bring about an effective solution to the disasters. Otherwise, deadly fire incidents will continue to cause huge losses in terms of human lives and property in the capital of an independent country.
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