The malpractice of storing of highly inflammable chemicals in old Dhaka residential houses has come back. Despite the recent tragedy at Churihatta, unscrupulous traders have started to store inflammable chemicals there putting the lives of hundreds of people at severe risk. Though some owners have shifted their plastic factories from old Dhaka, others are yet to act to meet the deadline, which is about to end.
During a random visit to old Dhaka, it was seen that some buildings at Nimtoli, Posta, Armanitola, Bangshal, Chawkbazar and different other areas are being used as chemical warehouses. A large portion of those chemicals is stored mainly by leather traders, ignoring safety and security of public life. It might be mentioned that after the tragedy at Wahed Mansion in Chawkbazaar that claimed at least 70 lives, a taskforce comprising representatives from Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), RAB, police and the district administration, operated drives through 86 mobile courts at different parts of Dhaka from February 28, 2019. During the drives, utility services of at least 76 warehouses and factories were severed. Some of those warehouses and factories were also given ultimatum for relocation.
During a random visit to the areas, it was found that those warehouses had not shifted within the deadline. Most of the owners of those warehouses continue doing business by paying fines. It was also noticed that their utility lines were restored. According to FSCD data, 14 chemical warehouses were shifted since February this year. But shifting has taken place only from one residential area to another. For instance, the warehouse of Rita Chemical was shifted from Armanitola to Lalbagh, another densely populated residential area. And the warehouse of Plasticolor was shifted from one house at Kayettuli to another house in the same locality.
FSCD officials have admitted that they did not have any idea about the progress of the relocation of the chemical warehouses. They had conducted drives in that area in late March and do not know the current situation. A FSCD official said, the process of conducting drives against chemical warehouses in the residential quarter of old Dhaka remains suspended as of now.
FSCD has no idea about the relocation of chemical warehouses. A high-level government committee was formed regarding relocation of warehouses, but they have not received any directive from the government. He, however, said that FSCD has stopped issuing licences to chemical warehouses since the big fire. The FSCD official also mentioned that the government set August 25 as the deadline for relocation of all chemical warehouses and factories from old Dhaka. He also said the problem cannot be resolved with occasional drives. The mentality of locals also has to change. They have to understand that storing of such chemicals in residential buildings put their own life in jeopardy.
Hazi Belayet Hossain, secretary general of the Bangladesh Chemical and Perfumery Merchant Association, said it was not possible to relocate chemical warehouses from old Dhaka before the construction of chemical village by the government. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) at a meeting on March 1 approved Tk. 79.42-crore project to construct 54 chemical warehouses at Kadamtoli in Shyampur for relocating chemical warehouses from old Dhaka. It also cleared the first revision of the BSCIC Chemical Industrial Park Munshiganj Project involving Tk 1,615.73 crore for relocating the chemical warehouses of old Dhaka to an environment-friendly location in Munshiganj.
