The writing was on the wall

On April 4 this month, Bangabazar Shopping Complex, one of the biggest clothing markets in the capital, went up in flame burning to ashes 2,931 shops just two weeks before the Eid. The devastating fire shattered the dreams of several thousand traders who are now at a loss as their capital of entire life went up with the smoke. Was the fire incident an accident? The information we have from newspapers and other sources say otherwise.

Four years back on April 2, 2019, the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence hung a banner in front of the Bangabazar Shopping Complex declaring it vulnerable to fire as there were risky electric wires, a transformer on the second floor and a very large amount of flammable materials. The organization also reportedly notified the complex authorities to be cautious about the imminent danger.

According to the fire service’s 2018-2019 annual report, several major fire incidents including those at Churihatta, FR Tower, Gulshan DNCC Kitchen Market, and Khilgaon Kitchen Market took place between February and April of 2019. Because of those fire incidents one after another, the Fire Service conducted a survey on 3, 786 institutions and establishment those were at high risk of fire. Of them, they found 541 shopping complexes and markets vulnerable to fire.

They warned them all including Bangabazar Shopping Complex. Of the 541 shopping complex and markets the Fire Service authorities hung the banner first at Bangabazar Shopping Complex. Coincidentally it was the first of the 541 vulnerable shopping complex and markets that was on flame at the dawn of 04 April. Before the explosion at the BM Container Depot in December of 2022 the similar warning message was given to the higher authorities of the said organization and it was blatantly ignored. The fire followed by an explosion killed 51 people and injured over 200 others.

Fire incidents continue to wreck havoc on lives and property with our organizations concerned playing barely any part in preventing them. People are dying in scores though luckily Bangabazar fire didn’t kill anyone. The number of people dying in fire incidents are rising blunting our conscience to the point where we feel no pain or grief at all. It has become so natural that it now even fails to arouse any compassion in people. They just go about with their everyday works as usual.

We have forgotten even to question why they happen and who are responsible for such frequent fire incidents. No one cares, no one raises voice, no one is concerned and we have learnt only one thing and that is how to close our eyes literally to everything. This is a clear sign of subservient attitude towards life that eventually spells disasters. When people learn to accept everything closing their eyes with let’s-not-see attitude, disasters in many forms – economic, political and social – befall them.

Just a little more than one month of Bangabazar fire, another fire ripped through a seven-storey building at Siddikbazzar on March 7 killing about 25 people. Reportedly there had been 13, 726 fire incidents from 2020 to 2022 in industrial and commercial establishments in which roughly 256 people have so far died. Those fires have caused losses worth at least Tk291 crore. What is shocking and worrying is that it happened only in a span of only two years but we are yet to see any concern and anxiety in those who are designated to oversee and investigate safety and security of people.

There are some organizations that are either not empowered to do their job properly or they are idling away their time enjoying life with public money. Such an organization is the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishment responsible for health and safety inspection in factories and industries in the country. It doesn’t have any power to take steps against any factory and industry for their negligence in handling the issues of safety and security. The fire service doesn’t have the power either.

Inability and inaction of these organizations are contributing no less to fire incidents one after another in the country. Very often citing manpower shortage and other issues the agencies and the departments concerned avoid their responsibilities. There are 54 agencies under 11 ministries to ensure governance in the capital. If they were active and performed their parts there wouldn’t have been so many fire disasters.

Either they have to be sincere enough in performing their duties or they have to hand it over to some autonomous bodies empowering them to bring an end to this man-made disaster. After each and every such incident everything is done with consummate competence. Probe committee is formed. It submits its reports almost on time. Investigation is carried out. Persons responsible for the fire are arrested. But as soon as public anger dies down and there is no more talk about it, things begin to change its course. The persons arrested for the crime come out of jail. Probe committee report is thrown into bin. The affected establishments go back into operation in full swing.

Things go back to square one. Over the past one decade there has been not a single conviction in any major fire incident. Again conviction can also be viewed from two perspectives – people who are directly responsible for fire as they have failed to guarantee the issues of safety and security and those who are supposed to oversee them time to time. We always find the first category of people being arrested while the later ones always remain out of our dragnet of laws.

Even those who fall into the first category finally escape the hands of laws with their money, power and muscle. If they are in close contact with the royalty they just come out of the trouble by just flexing their muscle. As for others, they have to buy power with their money. So, it is out of question of taking actions against those who fall into the second category. A nefarious nexus between the officials of different agencies and law violating owners of establishments are mainly responsible for such frequent fire disasters.

If punishment was meted out to both sections of people responsible for their direct and indirect negligence, I think, such fire incidents could easily be averted. But the reality is otherwise. It is very much different from the way we think, from the way we expect, from the way we long for and from the way we dream of. In most cases fires are not accidental in nature rather they are the results of our oblivion of consequences of safety and security of our own lives and total irresponsibility of the organizations concerned at whose mercy our lives completely depend. Most of the fire incidents could have been preventable.

The Bangabazar authorities were warned, a warning sign was hung in front of the shopping complex and they didn’t pay heed to it. The Dhaka South City Corporation wanted to build 10-story building but the traders of the said market refused. They went to the High Court and the court issued a stay order and DNCC retreated.

The High Court isn’t such an institution that pushes people to their deaths. Of course, the DNCC should have taken its further course of action as it involved people’s lives. Both the Bangabazar authorities and DNCC should be held responsible for such tragedy written four years back.

The writer is a journalist. He can be contacted at maksud.i.rahaman@gmail.com