Bangladesh
Bangabazar Fire Prime Minister Hasina assures help to Bangabazar traders
Dhaka, April 6: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised maximum assistance to the businessmen affected by the terrible fire in the capital's Bangabazar. She said, "The suffering and tears of traders cannot be tolerated during Ramadan. I have already said - we will help as much as we can. We will assess the losses of the traders."
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader handed over a check of around Tk 316 crore 91 lakh as the first and second installments of the loan taken for the construction of Padma Bridge to him at the Prime Minister's official residence Ganabhaban on Wednesday.
Sheikh Hasina warned that those involved in damaging the fire fighting vehicles must be identified. He also said, "Those who entered the fire brigade headquarters with batons and damaged the fire fighting vehicles have been ordered to be identified. Action will be taken against them."
The Prime Minister said that the fire service personnel reached the spot immediately after the fire broke out, but a group of people attacked the fire brigade office with sticks in the afternoon. She said that strict action will be taken against those who are seen attacking firefighting vehicles, firemen or any service providers in future. Sheikh Hasina warned, "No such attack will be tolerated in the future."
The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh has achieved a big success by running an experimental train on Padma Bridge on Tuesday. However, along with this good news, the nation also got a bad news of the fire in Bangabazar, she said. "It is very sad to see (a large number of) shops burnt down in Bangabazar," she said. She said that there were earlier fire incidents in Bangabazar in 1995 and 2018.
After the fire incident in 2018, the Prime Minister said that her government had planned the construction of Bangabazar. But they could not do so as the process of building the bazaar was suspended in view of a writ petition against it in the High Court. She said, "If the market had been built, such fires would not have happened."
