Home ›› 09 Apr 2023 ›› Front
A bank account has been opened to support the fire-affected traders of Bangabazar in the capital.
Through the IFIC Bank Ltd savings account number (0200094066031), anyone can send financial support from both home and abroad, said business leaders.
Addressing a press conference at Bangabazar, Dokan Malik Samity President Helal Uddin said the deposited amount with this account would be initially handed over to Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman and Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.
Mentioning that a list of the affected traders is being prepared, Helal said the names of the traders and their financial losses would be assessed and after that, the deposited amount would be handed over to them.
On Thursday, Prime Minister’s Adviser Salman F Rahman visited the Bangabazar area and suggested that businessmen open up a joint account after the name of the market.
He said many want to support the affected traders for which the Dokan Malik Samity president has been advised to open up an account.
On April 4, a massive fire broke out at the Bangabazar market and spread to some other nearby markets, burning several thousand shops, with mainly ready-made clothes and footwear, to ashes.
Meanwhile, traders of Bangabazar on Saturday set up temporary shops on the streets and footpaths at the site of the incident.
Around 800 traders displayed their stocks since Saturday morning. They set up their makeshift shops under the flyover, on the south side of Bangabazar market.
Many traders sat with the clothes they were able to save from the devastating fire. Even though there was a crowd around the shops, sales were yet to pick up.
Aynal Hossain, who was sitting at his shop under the flyover, said he had two shops in the Bangabazar market. Both shops were burnt to ashes.
“I was able to move some stuff which I have brought here. No sale yet, because our regular customers do not know the address of the shop. Only Allah knows how we will celebrate this Eid,” he said.
Trader Shahidul Islam had a shop in Bangabazar, selling jeans and shirts. As the shop was reduced to cinder, now he has also set up shop on the footpath.
“Everything is over. There is no money for food at home. So, I was forced to set up shop on the footpath,” he lamented.
Traders at loggerheads over multi-storey building proposal
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq on Saturday said there was a dispute between the traders of Bangabazar regarding the proposal to build a multi-storey commercial building on the site.
Whether that played any part in the fire would come out in the investigation, he said.
Alongside the police, the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) directorate is also investigating the cause of the fire.
The DMP commissioner came up with the remarks responding to reporters’ questions after a programme at the FDC in the city.
Replying to another question, Commissioner Faruq termed the attack on the nearby FSCD headquarters during the Bangabazar fire as “pre-planned.”
He also said a total of 11 people have been arrested since the attack on the FSCD headquarters till Saturday. Investigation is focused on ascertaining the motive behind the attack on the agency, he added.
