The Dhaka South City Corporation authorities began on Saturday removing a substantial amount of illegally-stored chemicals from the basement of the Hajji Wahed Manzil building, which was heavily damaged after the deadly fire at Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar, reports bdnews24.com.
Dhaka South Mayor Sayeed Khokon announced that it was the start of the removal of chemical warehouses and factories from Old Dhaka.
Stern action would be taken against anyone found to be storing chemicals illegally in their houses, he said.
The mayor inspected the Hajji Wahed Manzil building storage site during a visit to the area in the afternoon. Two trucks then began removing the goods in two phases.
Chawkbazar police inspector Md Murad said that the chemicals were being moved to the Keraniganj Jhilmil Project area under the supervision of the city corporation.
The mayor requested anyone with information regarding buildings used to store chemicals to inform the city corporation, their local councillors or the police.
A CCTV video showed that the fire started from a vehicle's gas cylinder, the mayor said.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire started after a gas cylinder aboard a pickup truck exploded at the intersection. The fire then spread to five nearby buildings, including the Hajji Wahed Manzil building.
Fire service officials believe the fire was further stoked by the combustible chemicals, plastics and cosmetics at nearby stores and warehouses. But no damage was done to the transformers there. The transformers were found intact on Saturday.
The fire gutted the bottom two floors of the Hajji Wahed Manzil building, tearing through the dozen or so stores on the ground floor and the perfume and plastic materials warehouse on the second storey.
On Thursday morning fire service officials opened the basement of the building to find rows and rows of chemical drums and stacks of bags. They were shocked to imagine how much worse the situation would have been if the fire had reached the highly-combustible materials.
Two new utility poles are being set up south of the Churihatta Shahi Jamme Mosque and on the northeast corner of the intersection after the fire damaged four poles in the area.
"The four previous utility poles were smaller," contractor Abul Kashem said. "The two we have now are larger and will handle the load of all four."
A committee from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief was inspecting the area. Committee convener Md Akram Hossain said that the panel had been instructed to determine the cause of the fire and what could be done to prevent such tragedies in the future. They must also submit a list of the missing.
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