Nimtali tragedy: law enforcement and civic sense
Sunday, 20 June 2010
The Nimtali tragedy raises the question whether urban planning has any meaning in the capital city of Dhaka. More than 119, mostly women and children, were charred to death and 200 others received severe burn injuries in the country's worst-ever fire incident involving eight residential buildings and more than 20 shops at the densely populated Nawab Katra and Nimtali of the old part of the city.
There are numerous plastic and chemical factories in the narrow lane. How was it allowed? The Dhaka City Corporation and industries department must be called to account. Ponds and water-filled ditches of the city were filled up without any thought given to future eventualities like fire.
The fire had spread so fast and so devastatingly because the area is completely unplanned and the lanes too narrow for fire fighting vehicles to reach close to the scene. The fire service also will have to update their skill and equipment in the light of the city's limitations.
New illegal structures, chaotically constructed cheek by jowl with old dilapidated buildings, are still coming up. It is the job of the government to enforce tough rules and laws, and it should be held liable for defaulting in that respect. But what about our own sense of responsibility as law-abiding citizens? Or, must we have to be always chased by the big stick to follow the rules?
Mohammad Shahidul Islam
Email: mmssiicc@aol.co.uk
There are numerous plastic and chemical factories in the narrow lane. How was it allowed? The Dhaka City Corporation and industries department must be called to account. Ponds and water-filled ditches of the city were filled up without any thought given to future eventualities like fire.
The fire had spread so fast and so devastatingly because the area is completely unplanned and the lanes too narrow for fire fighting vehicles to reach close to the scene. The fire service also will have to update their skill and equipment in the light of the city's limitations.
New illegal structures, chaotically constructed cheek by jowl with old dilapidated buildings, are still coming up. It is the job of the government to enforce tough rules and laws, and it should be held liable for defaulting in that respect. But what about our own sense of responsibility as law-abiding citizens? Or, must we have to be always chased by the big stick to follow the rules?
Mohammad Shahidul Islam
Email: mmssiicc@aol.co.uk