When risky restaurants turn death traps

Before going to bed, it was a relief to learn that the fire had been brought under control and that many persons had been rescued. But waking up in the morning to learn that 43 persons had died in the Bailey Road fire, was a shock. This tragedy sends chills of helplessness all around. Over 50 more were rescued. The health minister said that those in hospital were still not out of danger. Many of them suffered from trachea injuries. Visiting the site at night, the inspector general of police said that the daughter of one of his colleagues had been killed. He appealed to the people to praye that the death count does not increase further.

I have been with friends and family several times to restaurants on the second storey and fourth storey of the building on Bailey Road where this terrible fire took place. That is why after the incident, it kept striking me that we too could have been victims of this cruel tragedy. There are several restaurants on both these floors of the building. It is a glass-enclosed building. You can see the street below if you get a window seat. When a glass enclosed building catches fire, it becomes an inferno. As the air can’t escape, the flames and smoke simply spiral upwards. These glass enclosed buildings are death traps.

Bailey Road is a broad street. The fire service can reach there and begin extinguishing the flames and rescuing the people almost as soon as the fire breaks out. So why were there so many fatalities? It was learnt that the conditions were such that deaths were inevitable in the advent of a fire. It was a glass enclosed building and there were gas cylinders stored on the stairs. Once the fire broke out, cylinders would explode and there would be no escape route.

I am no expert. But I have been to the building several times and so feel that that the design from the building from the second storey to the seventh was in no way appropriate for commercial use. Since the restaurant business was booming in Bailey Road, perhaps that is why the building was leased out for restaurant businesses. Perhaps the building was not made for restaurants. Was the matter ever checked? Were fire drills ever carried out there? In how many buildings in Dhaka are such drills actually held? The Bailey Road incident once again pointed out all these glaring irregularities, indiscipline and lack of supervision.

Capital city Dhaka’s population has exceeded 20 million. There are no open spaces for the people to find some respite. There is no space to meet or hang out. Where will they go? This is one of the major reasons behind the boom in the restaurant business in recent years. This offers an opportunity for people to get together with friends and family, hang out and spend time. And also with the change in people’s financial conditions and spending habits, the restaurant industry has flourished rapidly.

Bailey Road, Khilgaon, Saat Masjid Road and Banani are now restaurant hubs. The buildings in these areas house innumerable restaurants. But were these buildings designed with restaurants in mind? Restaurants are being regularly run in residential buildings. And all of us visit these places regularly. We take our kids along. The restaurants are beautifully decorated. The staff is smartly turned out. They speak fluently in English and Bangla. No pains are spared to create wonderful ambiance. But nothing is done about people’s safety. That is where the attention falters and fails.

Our citizens are every day simply waiting to be burnt like coal or suffocated in toxic fumes. If no one has any responsibility to carry out, then what more can we do than pray that after the death of 43, the death count does not increase any further.

* Monoj Dey is editorial assistant at Prothom Alo

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir