Chemical warehouses haven't shifted, wounds unhealed

Sazzad Hossain doesn’t want to talk anymore about the terrible fire accident at Haji Wahed Mansion in Churihatta of Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar. His brother Anwar Hossain died in that fire. They had a pharmacy across the street right in front of Wahed Mansion. That too was damaged in the fire.

Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of that fire accident in Churihatta. A total of 71 persons had lost their lives in the fire that broke out from four-storey Haji Wahed Mansion on 20 February, 2019.

Sazzad Hossain said their whole family was affected by that fire. Selling his ancestral land he set up the shop again about one and a half years ago. Meanwhile, he has sent his deceased brother’s wife, son and daughter to the village.

Many victims of that fire have resumed business in Churihatta area again. But they are upset over not receiving and government or non-government aid.

When asked, councilor of ward no 28 under Dhaka South City Corporation, Kamal Uddin told Prothom Alo that he wasn’t the councilor when the fire accident had occurred. But as far as he knows, many of the victims have received aid while relatives of many have been given jobs at the Dhaka South City Corporation.

While visiting Churihatta area on this Friday afternoon it was found that the building of Wahed Mansion has been restored. The second floor of the four-storey building has been rented out to two private banks. Except for two shops, all shops on the ground floor are owned by new proprietors.

Some of the shops on the ground floor haven’t been rented out yet. There were residential quarters on the third and fourth floor of Wahed Mansion. The walls on the third floor still bear signs of that fire. That floor hasn’t been fully renovated yet. It’s left off in somewhat of an abandoned state. Meanwhile the renovation work of the fourth floor has been finished.

The home ministry investigation into the fire accident had revealed that the fire at Wahed Mansion had broken out from a chemical warehouse on that building. The probe committee had recommended relocating the warehouses of harmful chemical from the residential areas of old Dhaka on an urgent basis.

Based on that, the industries ministry built fifty plus chemical warehouses on Ujala Match Factory premises in capital’s Shyampur area at the cost of Tk 580 million (58 crore). Yet the businessmen aren’t relocating the chemical warehouses there.

Churihatta area falls under ward no 28 of the Dhaka South City Corporation. A survey had been conducted towards the end of 2020 to determine the number of chemical factories in the area falling under this city corporation. The survey found as many as 1,924 chemical warehouses within Dhaka South City Corporation alone. And 98 per cent of these warehouses were hazardous.

After two years of the Churihatta incident, six people were killed in a fire that broke out from a chemical warehouse at Haji Musa Mansion in Armanitola area of Old Dhaka.

A resident of that area, Imran Hossain said that despite series of fire accidents most of the chemical warehouses haven’t shifted from Mitford and Armanitola area yet.

Visiting Mitford, Armanitiola and Chawkbazar areas on this Saturday a lot of chemical warehouses and shops were found to be operating there.

In response to the question why the chemical businessmen aren’t leaving Old Dhaka, general secretary of Bangladesh Chemical and Perfumery Merchant Association Shafikul Islam claimed to Prothom Alo over the phone that there aren’t that many chemical warehouses in Old Dhaka now.

Associate professor at the chemical engineering department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Md Easir Arafat Khan sees the lack of good will on government’s part behind the chemical warehouses not relocating yet.

He said why would they relocate if they are given the chance to run their business in Old Dhaka? The tanneries have relocated from Dhaka because the government wanted them to. If they are provided the scope, nobody will shift from Old Dhaka. They will go only if their businesses are shut down, he added.