Fire at Rajshahi largest market

Rajshahi city's RDA (Rajshahi Development Authority) market, the largest and the most popular among shoppers, escaped a catastrophe after a fire gutted two of its stores on Monday night during afterhours.

The fire broke out around 10:00pm when there were hardly any visitors in the congested market as most of the stores had already been closed for the day.

Four units of Fire Service and Civil Defence reached the spot twenty minutes later and started to extinguish the fire. When they doused it after an hour's fight, two clothing stores were burned down, incurring a damage of around Tk 20 lakh.

It is a miracle that the ramshackle market, housing a staggering 2,300 stores on 2.18 acres of land in Shaheb Bazar area, survived with such a small damage and without any fatality, said locals. 

“The loss was not huge, but it could've been devastating,” said Yasin Ali, organising secretary of RDA Market Businessmen's Association.

“It was sheer luck that the fire broke out at a time when most shops were closed...,” but had it happened during the market hours, the damages could have been worse and there could have been fatalities, said Abu Jamal Tapos, a crockery shop owner. 

Fire Station Officer Farhad Hossain, who led the four units of the fire service, said the fire originated from an electric short circuit at one of the two gutted shops.

“Its electrical wiring is haphazard and not concealed -- a threat to the public.” It does not have any underground water reservoir, a requirement for fire safety certification, he added.

Ahsanul Kabir, assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence in Rajshahi, said the market does not have fire safety certification. Shop owners and the RDA blamed each other for deviations and safety violations in the still incomplete market.

Reconstruction of the market started in 2004 with an original plan for a two-story structure. But now, 2,300 stores are crammed into a four-story one.  

“It was the businessmen themselves who constructed the market,” claimed RDA's Chief Executive Officer Kamala Ranjan Das.

Organising secretary of RDA Market Businessmen's Association, Yasin Ali, claimed, “We followed RDA's design during the market's construction.”

Prof Saiful Islam, a philosophy teacher at Rajshahi Government College, said since all daily essentials including grocery and clothing items are available at low prices at the market, it is the most crowded market in the city.

“But we try to finish our shopping there as quick as possible as we feel vulnerable in the congested facility, fearing any probable accident.”