Yet another city market fire exposes fragile safety
A major marketplace in Dhaka city has been gutted by yet another massive fire, marking the second such incident in less than two weeks when the biggest Muslim festival of Eid ul Fitr is just a week away.
The New Supermarket, an extension of Dhaka's old New Market, was filled with Eid merchandise and goods for bargain-loving shoppers. This devastating fire has destroyed the hopes of hundreds of traders who have lost their businesses due to the fragility of the fire safety system in these markets.
New Super Market businessmen were rudely woken up Saturday to see their shops stuffed full of dresses, crockery and household items for Eid shoppers in flames. The fire at the market took place at a time when devastated small traders of Bangabazar market, completely gutten on 4 April, have just started to pick up the threads on the pavements.
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Both the fires broke out at around the same time-- in the early hours. Though the cause of the Bangabazar fire is still being investigated, this time traders instantly blamed the fire to a demolition work of the Dhaka South City Corporation.
As the fire-fighters were struggling to douse the flames, traders accused that the demolition of the foot over-bridge adjacent to the Market sparked the fire from the overhead high-voltage electricity line-- something the city corporation rejected.
By the time fire was tamed after four-hour intense efforts by firefighters with water from nearby Dhaka College pond, roughly 300 shops housed in the market's two badly damaged floors were gutted causing at least Tk300 crore loss, suggests an instant estimate of shop owners' association.
Did the DSCC demolition work cause the fire?
Fire service officials could not say for sure what caused the fire.
"It might have originated from an electric short circuit, from cigarette or any cooking stove, we have to look into the matter," Lt Col Tazul Islam Chowdhury, director, fire service and civil defence said yesterday as several units were trying to control the fire that spread rapidly among the highly-flammable fabrics and chemical agents from the mixture of leather, fabrics and crockery items.
On 4 April last year, the Dhaka South City Corporation closed off the concrete footbridge adjacent to Gate No-4 of New Market as it was at risk.
After a year now, the authorities started to knock it down.
Businessmen present at the scene said that the city corporation had barricaded the stairs as risky from Ramadan last year, but they had not done anything about it until now.
Saturday's pre-dawn demolition drive was unwarranted, they said.
New Super Market Shop Owners Association President Md Shahidullah also blamed the Dhaka South City Corporation eviction drive for the fire at the market.
"City corporation men were demolishing the foot overbridge at around 3am. We have 1000 kilo volt electricity cables adjacent to the foot-over bridge. When they had started bulldozing the bridge from the stairs then the fire broke out. An eviction drive without any plan and prior notice made us suffer," said the shop owners association.
Former Senior Joint Secretary of Dhaka New Super Market (South) Traders Association Ishtiaq Ahmed quoted the security guards of the market, who alerted him about the fire around 5:45AM on Saturday, to make his point.
"The security guards told us that around 4:00AM in the morning (Sehri time), a group of people from the City Corporation came to demolish the stairs on the east side of the New Super Market without notice,"Ishtiaq said.
The security guards tried to stop them (corporation men) and requested them to speak to the market association leaders before removing the staircase connecting the foot-overbridge, or at least switch off the electricity connection first, he said.
"But the city corporation people started breaking the stairs without listening to anyone. Within a few minutes, there was a loud burst on the ground floor and second floor of the market and smoke started coming out," Ishtiaq added.
Kazi Abul Khair, member secretary of the current convening committee of Dhaka New Super Market (South) Traders Association also believed that the fire might have broken out due to the demolition of the stairs without disconnecting the electricity.
DSCC refutes allegation
Refuting traders' allegation that the fire at New Super Market originated from the electrical works on a nearby footbridge, DSCC Spokesperson Md Abu Nasher said there was no scope to link the fire to the demolition work.
"The spot of the fire incident was around 400 feet away from the demolition work and they did not use any gas cutters here," Nashed said.
The representatives of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC) were present during the demolition that started around 2:00 am and ended around 5:10am, before the fire originated, he said.
Later Dhaka South Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, who visited the spot, said proper safety measures were ensured before the demolition work. All electricity lines were disconnected and no instrument was used that might cause a fire," he said.
The mayor said the demolition work was stopped at least half an hour before the fire broke out in the market and "some quarters are trying to mix the two."
Why so frequent market fires
At least four fire incidents at commercial spaces or complexes took place within two weeks in the capital. Among those, the Bangabazar conflagration reduced around 5000 shops into ashes.
Asked about the frequent fires in the city, Brigadier General Md Main Uddin, director general of fire service and civil defense, told the media that "I would request the police to look into it.
Main Uddin said, it has not been determined yet, it will be known after investigation.
The Dhaka South mayor also stressed the need for intelligence agencies' investigation into the reasons for pre-dawn incidents to see if there is any act of sabotage.
The risky buildings will be sorted out and safety compliances will be discussed after Eid, he added.
Lack of safety compliance, poor cables
Though the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, absence of fire safety measures and poor quality electricity wiring and equipment are among the factors being discussed after recent fires in city's markets built unplanned on city corporation land.
While Bangabazar saw a number of fires in the last three decades, including two big ones destroying the whole market, there was no major fire recorded in the New Super Market, catching the traders off-guard. So, no effective fire safety measures were there just like many other markets.
Fire service department had declared Bangabazar market unsafe in 2019 after serving warning notices for more than 10 times.
A similar warning was also issued for New Super Market as well declaring the market risky, said Lt Col Tazul Islam Chowdhury, director, fire service and civil defense.
He, however, could not instantly say when such a notice was served.
Lack of water is a common handicap for fire-fighters in the city. This time the pond in the nearby Dhaka College campus appeared to be the saviour, as 18 pumps were pressed into service there to pump water for the firefighting.
People concerned with the fire safety market believe that it is wiser for businesses to spend a small amount to protect their market from fire than to allow their investment to go in flames. The cost of putting a minimum fire safety system is less than 1% of the damage caused by a fire, said M. Mahmudur Rashid, Secretary General, of Electronics Safety and Security Association of Bangladesh (ESSAB).
"If it's Bangabazar market, Tk 4-5 crore is sufficient to set up a fully automatic fire sprinkler system. So it can suppress fire automatically without any fire service or human intervention," he said, adding that this technology is being widely used in garment factories.
Abu Noman Howlader, Chairman at BBS Cables Limited, told The Business Standard, use of substandard cable is mostly responsible for the spread of fire from electrical short circuits. Again, even using good quality cable, fire accidents often occur. And for this mainly the ignorance and inefficiency of the electrician is responsible.
He said, many fake cables are available in the market. Some people use this fake cable in the electric line of the building to save cost. No standard is maintained on these fake cables. Due to which there is a chance of fire spreading easily when these often overloaded cables heat up.
"The electrician connects more equipment with the cabling than it is designed for, not insulating the connections properly."
DESCO (Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited) Managing Director Md Kausar Ameer Ali said, the allegation that fires occur due to short circuit due to voltage fluctuation is not correct. He also said that consumers ignore the safety of electricity cables. Regular maintenance is not done. And those who work in these places are also negligent. Fire accidents can be reduced to a great extent by following proper engineering codes.
He also said that electricity consumption goes up in summer and the cables are overloaded. As a result, the cables heat up. As a result, accidents increase. So, at this time electrical connections need to be properly maintained.
