The springtime in Bangladesh is not all fun and merriment. Because in this pre-monsoon months, dry air and rising temperature turn the environment into a tinderbox. So, it is also the time when deadly fires break out. But though the fire incidents take place recurrently every year, many with devastating consequences taking heavy toll of life and damage to property, the general public seem to forget the tragedies soon after the fires die down. For had it not been the case, why is it that in about every case of fire that hit headlines, fire department and other agencies concerned in their post-inspection reports invariably mention the absence of preparedness against fire and lack of appropriate safety measures at the residential, commercial and official buildings. It is often reported that such buildings did not have provision for fire exit or if there was any, it had been crammed with sacks or piles of other materials. Due to such callousness on the part of the management of those factory buildings or marketplaces, the death toll rises. Even in the case of February 29's deadly fire at the commercial building named, Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall, in the city's Bailey Road area, that housed many eateries including shops, the stairway of the seven-story building was obstructed with gas cylinders which at some point exploded to turn the fire into an inferno. It is learnt that some restaurant owners and staff members have been detained by the police for their suspected lapses and negligence causing the fire. Unfortunately, in most of the cases of deadly fire claiming hundreds of innocent lives, real perpetrators of the crime remain beyond the reach of law. In their place, some people who are just part of the flawed systemic failure are held or fined.
Of course, not following building codes during the construction of factories, shopping malls, or residential quarters is a punishable offence. Absence of fire safety devices like fire extinguishers, water sprinklers poses far greater challenges if the approach roads to the places are narrow and thus prove difficult for fire fighters to use and do their job promptly and effectively. People who own those buildings vulnerable to fire, people who occupy those place as residents or as tenants to run business must be held accountable for doing a shabby job. The safety of customers, staff members and diners cannot be compromised. Unsuspecting visitors are unlikely to know about the faulty system of restaurant operation with glitzy bill boards and eye-catching interior decoration. But now that the restaurant tragedy has happened, people will think twice before going to restaurants in multi-storey buildings. They are not supposed to know if the building is unsuitable for restaurants, if there is no fire safety devices, etc. However, they can have a look if there are wide staircases for emergency exit. Both owners of the buildings and restaurant operators must take responsibility for any breach of the building code and other laws guiding construction of a building to suit the purpose for which it was built in the first place. The authorities like Rajuk, city corporations, fire fighting agencies and law-enforcers cannot also wash their hands of the devastating conflagrations producing excuses like warnings were issued to the occupants of the places in question of possible dangers, or that notices were served to evacuate the places so gutted by fire and so on.
The common public generally do not act of their own volition to disrupt the status quo. So, it is the responsibility of the enforcers of the rules and law to force the owners, tenants or other occupants of those vulnerable places to vacate after expiry of the notice periods or warnings so issued. Sometimes, unwilling owners and occupants of buildings in question go to court and have court rules issued in favour of maintaining the status quo. These are definitely instances of legal hurdles deliberately created obstructing law-enforcers to do their job. In that case, in the face of the increasing incidents of destructive fires in the city and elsewhere in the country, the judicial authorities may take suo moto cognizance of the issues and order law enforcers to forcibly vacate or if necessary demolish the sites reported to be vulnerable to fire or any other calamity of human or natural origin. No excuse for not taking the required precautionary measures to protect life and property by the authorities concerned would be acceptable.
In the present case of Bailey Road fire, alongside doing their routine job of finding the cause of fire, compensating victims and so on, the authorities concerned should not fail to hold to account those who mindlessly allowed operation of restaurants for the purpose of which the building was not designed in the first place.
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