Chemical shop fire
Four individuals died and many more have been badly injured in Tejturi Bazar fire on Thursday. Reports relating to the hazards posed by factories and chemical workshops situated in residential areas have appeared regularly in the media. Despite all the concerns expressed over the years and court orders to free residential areas of chemical stores, no effective compliant measures have neither been enforced nor taken.
What has happened in Tejturi Bazar is simple: an open 200-litre paint thinner barrel developed a fire and the flames simply leapt out of the shop and into the narrow alley. The intensity of the fire could be seen from the manner in which the flames affected passersby. As for those inside the shop, apart from the individuals who have died, their normal breathing ran into problems. As a medical expert at DMCH put it, the hot gases burnt the breathing tracts of the affected individuals.
The question now is: How much more time must elapse before real and effective action is taken against elements who allow parts of their homes to be used as shops where dangerous chemicals may be in use? Apart from that, when will purposeful action be demonstrated to ensure safety measures for shop employees?
Whatever suggestions have been made by experts should be revisited on a priority basis and a strategy adopted to implement those within a specified timeline under the watch of a clearly designated authority. We cannot be mute spectators to deaths of unsuspecting people through avoidable accidents.
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