Four people have died in a fire on the ground floor of the Haji Musa Mansion in Armanitola. Another 21 people have been injured in the incident and are undergoing treatment at the hospital. Amongst the injured, four are undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and are in critical condition.<\/p>\n
The building caught fire on Friday, 23 April, at around 3:15 am. \u00a0Around 6:30 am, after a three-hour effort, 19 units of the fire service brought the fire under control. According to the locals, the six-storey building had shops and chemical warehouses on the ground floor. On other floors, people lived in rented accommodation. Previously, on the night of 20 February 2019, a fire spread by chemicals at Churihatta Intersection of Chawkbazar in Old Dhaka and burnt down five buildings, including Waheed Mansion. Seventy-two people lost their lives in the fire. Nine years before, on 3 June 2010, 123 people lost their lives in a terrible fire at a chemical warehouse in Nimtali, Old Dhaka. The government had said that they would remove the chemical warehouses from Old Dhaka after the Nimtali tragedy. The same promise was made once again by the government after the Churihatta tragedy.<\/p>\n
Experiences have shown that at least two storeys below the ground floor of many settlements in Old Dhaka have been used for various business purposes, including chemical warehouses. Due to the abundance of business establishments, considering the situation in the area, it is doubtful whether it is a residential area or a commercial area. The trade here seems to have been determined in exchange for life. It is unfortunate that only after an accident takes place, the residents and the administration starts rushing. Then within a few days, it all goes back to how it was. A long time has passed since the massive loss of lives in the Nimtali and Churihatta fire tragedies; the state has taken no effective steps to relocate these chemical warehouses. The recommendations made in the investigation report of these incidents have also not been implemented. Many people are doing these businesses by repeatedly violating the people’s right to life not being brought under the law. \u00a0The recommendations of the High Court and the Committee of Inquiry to establish a robust monitoring structure to implement and monitor the progress of implementation properly are not being followed.<\/p>\n
ASK thinks that that chemical warehouses in the area have become a significant obstacle to the safety of the lives of the people living in Old Dhaka. ASK demands immediate relocation of chemical warehouses from these areas through proper management to make old Dhaka habitable and take legal action against those building owners illegally renting warehouses of hazardous chemicals in residential areas.<\/p>\n
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