Tragedies recur as inaction persists

After deadly fires like the one on Thursday that claimed 46 lives, authorities momentarily wake up from their slumber to prevent recurrences, but any such initiative loses steam as they fail to take concerted action.

Then there is the inevitable recurrence and the cycle is repeated.

The building on Bailey Road where the fire broke out on Thursday night housed seven eateries.

But according to Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha's (Rajuk) Chief Town Planner Ashraful Islam, approval was given to use the first six floors as office spaces, and the top floor for residential purposes.

Some of those restaurants at Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall were operating for several years but Rajuk, which can shut restaurants and hand out penalties, never took any action.

The eateries were running without adhering to fire safety rules. They stored gas cylinders on the stairwell, which intensified the inferno. The inaction of the authorities yet again allowed a fire to escalate to a calamitous scale.

Fire Service and Civil Defence twice issued notices to one of the owners to implement a fire safety plan within 90 days, but the plan was not implemented within the period.

A fire service official said they were not empowered to take any action against anyone flouting fire safety rules.

On March 8 last year, an explosion caused by a leaked gas line at a basement café of a seven-storey building in the capital's Siddikbazar killed 25 people and left around 100 wounded.

Following the incident, Rajuk inspected 2,204 buildings in the capital and found that 683 were using their basements to store flammable items, violating building construction rules.

Tonmoy Das, former member (development control) of Rajuk, said they had issued notices to the owners of the buildings and asked them to remove the flammable items and restaurants from the ground floors within a month.

He, however, could not say whether their instructions were followed as he left Rajuk in June.

Asked what action, if any, was taken against those building owners, Ashraful yesterday said the regulatory authority along with the fire service followed up on some 20 buildings in the last three months and found lack of fire safety in those buildings. Rajuk issued notices asking the owners to correct the flaws, he added.

Rajuk has no information on whether the owners followed the instructions.

He admitted that they needed to step up efforts and, if necessary, the tasks of monitoring and following up should be outsourced.

"Now we are planning to conduct mobile courts. From now on, we will slap fines and if necessary, will seal buildings not following fire safety rules and building codes," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said Rajuk's scrutiny mainly falls on design shortcomings of buildings, and not as much on how buildings are being used.

As per Building Construction Rules-2008, there is a provision for renewing occupancy certificates every five years and that gives Rajuk a chance for fresh inspections.

But it is not being enforced properly, Ashraf said.

The lone stairwell of the building was narrowed by gas cylinders kept by the occupants of the building.

He also said that because of their widespread use of gas cylinders, restaurants should fall under a separate category when applying for permission. They now fall under the commercial category.

In many areas like Satmasjid Road in Dhanmondi, Banani 11, Gulshan Avenue, restaurants occupy large portions of most commercial buildings, Ashraful added.

Adil Mohammad Khan, president of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, said as the Bailey Road building is a mid-rise, it has one stairwell, but the building had lots of restaurants and therefore should have two.

He said ensuring fire safety was a must in every building, particularly those with design shortcomings. Even if firefighters come within five minutes of a fire, that is enough time for people to die. This is why establishments, especially commercial ones, must have their own fire safety measures.

"But most buildings in Dhaka do not have any in-built system, nor do they follow fire safety rules properly," he said.

"Trained manpower is necessary to douse fires, but in most cases we do not get such trained personnel in a commercial building," he said.

"We have a building code and have fire safety rules but those are not effective due to lack of governance and monitoring," he said.

"Keeping cylinders in the lone staircase was totally unacceptable, but who will monitor that?" he asked, adding  that those running businesses focus only on the profit.

There is no authority to conduct quality control on hundreds of thousands of gas cylinders in Bangladesh, Adil added.

"If we fail to manage these cylinders properly, those have the potential to become bombs," he said.

He also said that use of a building both for residential and commercial purposes should stop.