The Bailey Road building that was devastated by a fire causing death to at least 46 people including all five members of a family and injuring others reportedly housed as many as eight dining facilities. Even though the origin of the fire was none of these eateries, their gas cylinders stocked on the only narrow stairway turned the timid fire into an inferno and left no room for evacuation from the seven-storey building. The next building to the one so gutted houses even more prestigious restaurants including some famed international brands like KFC and Pizza Hut.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her resentment at the absence of emergency fire exit system there. Ideally, it should have. Now that the tragedy has happened, irregularities, lapses, negligence and other issues of concern will come to the fore. But one fundamental problem that lies at the heart of this entire affair is the provision of housing restaurants---not one but a large number of those---in multi-storey buildings. A contemporary reports that a 13-storey building on Road No-27, Dhanmondi has accommodated as many as 18 restaurants. There are other such buildings which house multiple eateries in them. Indeed, this has, of late, become a trend in restaurant business. Most such high-rise buildings have no emergency exit stairs.
The requirement of a number of certificates for opening a restaurant is a vital point. Apart from the trade licence which serves almost but not entirely the purpose equivalent to India's shop and establishment licence, there is the need for a restaurant licence issued by the deputy commissioner (DC) office. Before issuance of the certificate, physical inspection by a controller is mandatory. What matters most is the fire licence in Bangladesh and fire safety licence in India. This is issued by the Fire Service and Civil Defence authority under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Another important criterion is 'lift clearance' which is obtainable only after an inspector of the electricity department and the labour commissioner has conducted due inspection. This requirement has been ignored in case of Bangladesh.
Food safety and environmental requirements are more or less same in both countries. But the crux of the problem is the emergency fire exit that is not mentioned in either of the countries. One highly important thing is the inspection of the layout of the restaurant space. A troubling question is the existence of numerous eateries and their kitchens with 10-15 ovens operated by gas from cylinders. Is it feasible, let alone wise, to issue licences to numerous dining facilities at different levels, including rooftop arrangement, of a building? That these overheated kitchens with several gas cylinders used and also stored nearby but hardly equipped with any fire safety devices are a ticking bomb waiting to explode needs no elaboration.
So the legal parameters of the entire licensing system need to be reviewed in order to rationalise the aspects of accommodation. Multi-storied buildings without open spaces and extra fire exit system must not be used for restaurant business. What happens is that multi-storied buildings are not constructed exclusively for restaurant business but those who need to open such facilities convert the inside into spaces according to their requirements. In the process, they have to change layouts within and rearrange electric fittings including arrangements of air conditioners and kitchen. At times more tinkering follows with expansion of business. Similarly shopping malls needlessly use excessive lighting.
Investigations into fire incidents ultimately prove futile because suggestions made are not followed up. Even the process of shifting chemical warehouses from old Dhaka could not be completed so far. In case of dining accommodation, the presence of several restaurants in a single building not constructed specifically for such facilities poses grave risks. The fire service department claims it issued three notices but to no effect. When the threat is potent, let there be enforcement of magisterial power for sealing off such buildings.
Once garment factories were the hotspots of inferno, now multiple dining facilities in multi-storey buildings are likely to take their place. Before this happens, the authorities concerned should ask expert architects to come up with retrofitting designs and/or plan for converting such accommodations into green buildings.
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