Bangladesh
New Supermarket Fire Dhaka New Supermarket declared hazardous 16 years ago, removal stuck due to traders' obstruction
Dhaka, April 16: The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) had declared Dhaka New Supermarket (South) hazardous due to the risk of collapse and fire at any time. Sixteen years have passed since this announcement. Another report around 2016 called for the market to be vacated. However, the DSCC could not clear the market due to the obstruction of the traders.
The concerned persons of the organization claim that the market could not be vacated due to the obstacles of the traders. They were running the business in a risky environment. The plastering of the roof and surrounding walls of the three-storied market has already fallen off. There was a big crack in the pillar. So DSCC was afraid of a major accident at any time.
After 16 years of such apprehension, on Saturday (April 15) morning, a truly terrible fire occurred in the market. The fire was brought under control around 10:30 am with the efforts of 30 units of the fire service. Hundreds of shops have been burnt. Businessmen are raising questions about the cause of the fire. They say that DSCC started demolishing the pedestrian bridge to go from Chandrima Market to Dhaka New Super Market early on Saturday. The shop caught fire due to short circuit.
However, DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md. Mizanur Rahman claimed that the fire at Dhaka New Super Market has nothing to do with the breaking of the pedestrian bridge.
He said, this pedestrian bridge was dangerous. So DSCC workers went to break it on Friday night. In the meantime, the market caught fire. Now some of the traders are saying that the fire is due to short circuit due to the breaking of the bridge. But we have seen that there is no electricity connection of the market with the pedestrian bridge.
Sources in DSCC's property department said the market was declared vulnerable in a BUET report in 2007. Then DSCC took the initiative to reform. But due to the obstacles of the businessmen, it was not implemented. Later, the shopkeepers plastered the fallen parts of the roof and the pillars themselves. Then, in a separate report on October 17, 2016, BUET recommended that the market be vacated within three weeks. But the market traders still resisted. There are about 1,245 shops in this market.
