11 restaurants in 15-floor Keari Crescent Plaza shut down

Keari Crescent Plaza is a 15-floor building on Satmasjid Road, Jigatola of the capital. There were 11 restaurants running in this building. One of the two staircases of the building was closed and used to store gas cylinders. The door to the roof was locked. If a fire broke out in the building, no one would be able to go to the roof.

During a drive Monday afternoon, Dhaka South City Corporation executive magistrate Md Jahangir Alam found the premises in this condition. He sealed the building on fire security grounds.

Fire broke out last Thursday at a multi-storey building, Green Cozy Cottage, on Bailey Road in the capital. There were restaurants on every floor of the building. A total of 46 persons died in the incident. After the incident, experts expressed their concern about restaurants being opened randomly in various commercial buildings around Dhaka. Demands were made for a drive to be carried out to inspect these buildings for fire safety.

Yesterday, Sunday, police carried out a drive in around 50 restaurants of Gulshan, Mirpur and Uttara, and arrested 22 persons. After that, today the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripokkho (RAJUK), Dhaka City Corporation and the police carried out drives simultaneously at restaurants in various areas of the capital including Dhanmondi and Wari. A visit to the Keari Crescent Plaza building in Jigatala around 4:00pm  Monday afternoon saw a notice hanging on the front of the building, declaring “All restaurants will remain closed.”

Magistrate Jahangir Alam told the media that this is a 15-floor building and there were restaurants on all the floors right up till the 12^th floor. There is a visa processing office in the building too. He said, “The building has two staircases, but one is closed, not fit for use. Gas cylinders are stored there. The roof is closed. If there is any accident, no one can go there.”

Other than sealing the building, three staff members of the visa processing office were detained, said magistrate Jahangir Alam. He said they are involved in the company and so were detained and fined. No owners or authorities of the building were found.

There were fire service personnel in the drive too. Deputy assistant director of the fire service Tanhar Islam told the media, “There was no fire safety plan here and that is why the banner has been hung up.”

Earlier, not far from this building, RAJUK has carried out a drive at the Gausia Twin Peak building on Satmasjid Road. A rooftop restaurant was demolished there and 12 restaurants in the building sealed.