Take effective measures to stop building explosion

The news of a huge explosion at a building in Gulistan area on March 7 that killed 20 people (expected to rise) and injured over 200 others again showed how vulnerable we are to such disastrous events one after another. It is as if people are destined to die in different kinds of explosions without knowing that the next day we will be heard no more. This explosion happened just within two days of another blast at a building in Science Lab area of the capital killing three people and injuring more than 50 people.

Before that on the afternoon of March 04 an explosion at Shema Oxygen Oxico Ltd in Kadam Rasul area in Chattogram’s Sitakunda Upzila killed six people and injured 25 others. The accident happened as massive fire broke out following the explosion. It is now a kind of everyday event that either in the capital or somewhere else in the country this kind of explosion will happen and we are to be ready to hear the news.

It is still unknown what triggered the explosion in the crowded area of Gulistan. However, the Chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police suspected that accumulated gas might have been the reason behind the blast. We can only make some guesses but until and unless there is evidence nothing can be said for sure.

Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha Chairman Md Anisur Rahman Miah told the media that the explosion might have resulted from gas stored in the underground of the building. If the information given by him is correct then naturally question arises why is such a crowded place and that too in an area like Gulistan that is always abuzz with milling crowd is allowed to store gas.

This is undoubtedly highly risky to allow people to store gas and other kinds of combustible materials in such areas. There should be a policy in place where and what can be stored. One after another such incidents are happening but we are yet to see any logical and prudent measure taken by the authorities concerned.

Again there will be probe committee and it will submit its reports after an investigation. We are also going to see a lot of talks on the issue but nothing positives come out of anything. Days will pass by and after a few days the agencies responsible for incidents like that will go on with the way they have so far been working. It is a matter of great concern now for ordinary citizens who are compelled to live in those buildings like the one that had to experience the explosion.

In an editorial this newspaper we tried to bring the issue to the fore after a similar explosion in an oxygen plant in Chattogram on March 4 of this month. Our warning fell on deaf ears. We showed how before the explosion at the BM Container Depot the warning message had been given to the higher authorities of the said organization and how it was ignored, only to see the explosion killing 51 people and injuring over 200 others.

If we don’t want to see any such incidents in near future the entire country specifically the capital city, Chattogram and other metropolitan cities must have to be brought under a broad-based programme to ensure that no one dares to gather their inflammable materials in the areas that are mostly crowed. At the same time the government has also to take stern measures against those responsible for overseeing them.

If the government can strictly do this and implement the reports submitted by the probe committee only then such accidents can be curbed in future. Otherwise, we have to see more heart-breaking such news in the days to come.

We hope, after the probe report is published the agencies concerned of the government is going to take it seriously to prevent recurrence of such explosions.