Narayanganj mosque blast: 4 Titas engineers among 8 suspended

Eight employees including four engineers of the Narayanganj’s Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company have been suspended in connection with the blast at Baitus Salat Jam-e-Masjid in Paschim Talla area in the district.

The action was taken against them on Monday.

There was a huge explosion at the mosque around 8:30 on Friday night, injuring around 50 people and scorching six air-conditioners, tiles, sliding glass doors, windows, electric fans and panels. As many as 27 people have died from the accident until Monday.

The suspended four officers are manager Mohammad Sirajul Islam, deputy manager Mahmudur Rahman Rabbi, assistant engineer SM Hasan Shahriar and engineer Manik Mia.

The four other employees are senior supervisor Md Manibur Rahman Chowdhury, senior developer Md Ayub Ali, assistant Md Hanif Mia and technician Ismail Prodhan.

Titas managing director (MD) Ali Md Al-Mamun told Prothom Alo that the eight employees have been suspended. A show cause notice was served to each of them asking as to why they will not be dismissed permanently.

If they failed to respond properly, they will be dismissed, he added.

It has been alleged that the explosion was caused from gas leakage in the Titas gas line.

Local people said they earlier smelled gas inside the mosque.

Abdul Gafoor, chairman of the mosque committee, claimed they had asked the Titas gas authorities to fix the leakage, but Titas officials demanded Tk 50,000 from them for this. They could not afford it because of the financial crisis. So, the leakage was not fixed.