Allocate place for chemical trade: BNP leader

Published: February 23, 2019 18:02:16 | Updated: February 24, 2019 17:15:28

In the wake of devastating fire in the capital's Chawkbazar area, BNP has urged the government to allocate a specific place for chemical warehouses and its business.

"Old Dhaka is a residential area. All the chemical warehouses and shops should be immediately relocated from there. A separate place for the chemical business and warehouses should be allocated soon," said BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, reports UNB.

Otherwise, he warned, the Chawkbazar's Churihatta tragedy may recur at any place in the old part of Dhaka. "We don't want to see such a tragic incident again."

Mosharraf came up with the remarks while speaking at a discussion on two books by BNP chairperson's adviser Taimur Alam Khandaker at the Jatiya Press Club.

He criticised the government for not taking any step to shift the chemical shops and warehouses from Old Dhaka even after the Nimtoil fire that took 124 lives in 2010.

"Police and those who conducted the rescue operation after Churihatta fire incident said they recovered hundreds of drums of explosive and chemical. If this is the case, what the government did over the last nine years after the Nimtoil tragedy. They (govt) talk about many things but don't implement those," the BNP leader said.

He also slammed the government for not implementing the recommendations made by the probe committee formed following Nimtoil tragedy.

A fire that broke out a four-storey Haji Wahed Mansion at Chakbazar's Churihatta on Wednesday night killed 67 people and injured many others.