Once again, a terrible fire broke out in a chemical warehouse in Old Dhaka. A fire at a chemical warehouse on the ground floor of a six-storey building in Armanitola has killed at least four people and injured 20 others. Although the building is residential, a chemical warehouse was reportedly rented on the ground floor. The rest of the floors were residential flats. The landlords in Old Dhaka rent these warehouses for more income. As a result, most of the tenants in the flats live on explosives depots. After 124 people were burnt to death in the Nimtali tragedy in 2010, another tragedy in Churihatta in 2019 killed 78. In addition, minor accidents often occur. After these horrific accidents, an investigation committee is usually formed and the authorities concerned become active in removing the chemical warehouses and factories from Old Dhaka. After a while, all hustle and bustle is stopped. As a result, Old Dhaka has become a terribly unsafe area.
Following the investigation into the Nimtali fire incident, the government had said that chemical warehouses and factories would be removed to prevent such incidents from happening again. But the fire that broke out at Kazi Wahed Mansion in Churihatta, Chawkbazar showed that that promise was an empty one. An inquiry committee was formed again after the Churihatta incident. And the government said that the chemical warehouses would not cause any more deaths. But all that were empty promises and the Armanitola fire incident showed the cruel reality.
After the Nimtali and Churihatta incidents, the failure of the relevant agencies of the government came to the fore and the people in charge and the public representatives promised that the chemical business would be shifted from Old Dhaka to the “chemical village”. Before that, two temporary warehouses will be set up at Tongi and Shyampur. It is now seen that the field work of the “chemical village” has not started thus far, not even the construction of the temporary warehouse has been completed.
Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Actually, no integrated programme is visible to develop this mega city. The time has come to consider the project adopted for the formulation of the new Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of the capital, which suggested to combine the plots with land redevelopment to build block-based housing to change the dilapidated condition of Old Dhaka. Most of the buildings in Old Dhaka are worn out. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in these buildings. Except for one or two main roads, no road in Old Dhaka is more than 10 feet wide. Numerous legal and illegal commercial establishments, houses, warehouses and educational institutions have sprung up along these narrow roads. Ambulances and fire service vehicles do not reach 70 per cent of the houses across the narrow alleys here.
Despite the recommendations of several fire investigation committees formed in each fire incident, the illegal chemical warehouses were not removed from Old Dhaka. Whenever there is a major fire in a chemical warehouse, files are moved to remove the chemical warehouses and factories from the area. But after some days, the initiative to implement those decisions mysteriously come to a halt.
Even after so many years, no decision has been implemented to remove all the chemical warehouses and factories from Old Dhaka. Rather, chemical warehouses are having a mushroom growth in the area. We do not expect any more name is added to the list after Nimtali, Churihatta and Armanitola. We want that the chemical warehouses are immediately shifted from Old Dhaka after overcoming all the obstacles.
