The latest in the series has been the second floor of Dhaka New Super Market located between New Market and Dhaka College. As usual, what exactly caused the sudden blaze at the top floor of the three-storey shopping complex has so far remained a matter of speculation. However, the fire, as it did in the previous other very recent cases since the conflagration at the Bangabazar market on 4 April, reduced hundreds of shops mainly dealing in clothes to ashes. In the New Super Market, some 250 to 300 clothing stores went up in flames before the eyes of their owners. The hapless shop owners could not imagine in their wildest dreams that only within an hour or two of having closed their respective shops early in the morning of Saturday (15 April) for eating sahri followed by a short nap, they would find their shops being swallowed up by the maw of an inferno. And they have no inkling of how such a fiery disaster appeared as if out of nowhere and engulfed everything in a flash. Reports say the fire service received the information of the fire at the New Supermarket at around 5.40 in the morning. After three and a half hours' effort, the firemen could contain the blaze. That means they could control the further spread of the fire to the surrounding areas, though not the smouldering, which continued till late in the evening of Saturday.
Of course, the response of the fire service department was quite prompt, and, commendably, units of the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB), Army, Navy, and police took part in dousing the fire and helping the victim traders to recover whatever they could from the burning shops. Choking billowing smoke from the burning shops made the recovery efforts of the traders and the military and paramilitary units who came to their aid harder. Many fell sick and were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Some 29 people including 14 firemen were reportedly undergoing treatment. But what still remains a mystery is why such fire incidents are taking place, especially when many apparel traders had invested their last penny in the business expecting bumper sales before Eid. The marketplaces being thus engulfed by sudden fires of unknown origin are particularly the ones most visited by low and middle-income customers. Just to think that within a span of 11 days since the Bangabazar fire on April 4, which burnt down some 3,000 shops destroying clothes and other articles of value worth Tk 10 billion! Within the span of a week on April 11, another fire broke out at a ceramics warehouse in the Chawkbazar area of the so-called old Dhaka. Nawabpur in the older part of the city was the next victim on 13 April, which destroyed some 20 stores. Now this New Super Market fire.
Though actual damage caused by this latest fire is yet to be assessed, the traders and their representatives believe some 20,000 people (owners and staff of around 1,300 shops of the entire market and the members of their families dependent on their incomes) have been affected by Saturday's fire. But there are also reports of collateral damage. The traders who operate their business from the city's Science Laboratory point to the Nilkhet area had to keep their businesses shut so that fire service vehicles might move unhindered while putting out the Super Market blaze. As a result, in this peak Eid season, they had to sustain losses worth crores of taka as they could not open their shops on Saturday. And not to mention the fate of the traders who were directly affected by the fire. Unfortunately, the litany of complaints is piling up with each incident of fire and the way these tragedies are taking place seems to have no end in sight.
Many are wont to point the finger at the traders for their being unaware of the possibility of dangers like fire in such congested places as they operate. But finger-pointing is so easy after the damage is done. It is said that the fire service and civil defence people had marked the shopping centres including the Bangabazar, New Super Market, Gausia, Mouchak and Rjdahani Supermarket 'risky'. The department concerned definitely did what they are supposed to do. But the question is what the traders were then supposed to do. For it was not possible for the traders to shift their businesses to a safer place within a short time. Neither was any such facility on offer. In that case, strong monitoring of those 'risky' marketplaces by inspectors of the departments concerned, holding regular fire drills in those shopping centres, installing fire extinguishers, and holding demonstrations on their use and so on should have been in place, particularly during these hectic days of Eid marketing. Then comes the subject of post-disaster measures which include helping and rehabilitating the fire victims and finding the cause of the fire.
The victims who suffered huge losses as well as those rendered penniless need urgent financial support. Hopefully, the government can arrange urgent aid as well as low-interest bank loans for the victim traders. Such measures would help them survive and rekindle some hope in their hearts to continue their business in the future. Because the people being talked about here are very enterprising ones. They deserve the support. The law-enforcement authorities need to trace the causes of the fire to avoid future mishaps. But rather than closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, it is always better to take preventative measures.
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