Cleanup operation going in full swing

The businessmen affected by the fire in the capital’s Bangabazar market will be able to set up temporary benches and resume their trade from next Wednesday, said the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.

The City Corporation staff started cleaning the debris on Monday morning saying that they will try their best to complete the work on time.

General Secretary of Bangabazar Complex Shop Owners Association, Jahirul Islam told The Business Post, “Efforts will be made to complete the cleaning of the debris within Wednesday. If not possible then all work should be completed before Tuesday noon.”

“After levelling it in the afternoon, we will compile a list of traders as to who will sit where. On Wednesday at noon, the mayor himself will inaugurate the temporary market,” he added.

“We have received donations of about Tk 2 crore as of Sunday. Besides, business leaders held a meeting with DSCC Mayor on Sunday evening where we submitted a list of 2,961 people to the mayor’s office,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh told reporters after the meeting that, “the process of cleaning the burnt debris of Bangbazar will start in full swing from Monday morning so that the traders can resume their business from Wednesday. It will be executed by the DSCC.”

He also stated, “We hope that the Tk 2 crore which has already been deposited in the fund has helped the affected businessmen. We have received positive responses from all sectors and we will also participate in the fund to rehabilitate the small traders. We have a corporation meeting on Tuesday where a decision will be taken.”

On Monday, when talked to the corporation’s staff who are working in Bangbazar, they said that more than a hundred workers are working with bulldozers and transporting vehicles to move the debris. They are trying to complete the work as quickly as they can.

Meanwhile, many traders are sitting on makeshift benches with different kinds of products including pants, t-shirts and shirts under the mayor hanif flyover and in the surrounding area of Bangabazar.

A businessman of Ardash Market, Mosharof Hossain, said that he is now going to Shahbagh Police Station to submit a general diary because he has a bank loan against the goods of his shop.

A trader Abdullah Mamun said, “I used to sell pants in my shop. And now I am sitting on the side of the road with the surviving products. If I can sell anything, I can provide for my family in Eid.”

The traders urged them to clear the debris and make them sit.