Picture showing a part of Gulshan DNCC Market gutted by fire on the early hour of Saturday, march 30, 2019 Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

The market was gutted by a devastating fire in January 2017

At least 291 tin-shed shops were completely gutted in a fire that razed through the kitchen market beside the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Market in Gulshan 1 Saturday morning.

The fire had started around 5:48am and was completely doused around 9:30am by the firefighters.

However, no casualty was reported, while the origin of the fire and the extent of damage were yet to be known.

It took 20 firefighting units two-and-a-half hours to bring the blaze under control, confirmed Fire Service and Civil Defence Director (Operation and Maintenance) Maj AKM Shakil Nawaz.

After the fire was put out completely, store owners went inside the market to examine the extent of damage to their shops, and determine if they could recover anything from their businesses.

Apart from completely gutting 291 shops in the kitchen market, the fire partially damaged another 37 temporary businesses of various items, including household and daily goods, fruits, baby food, imported food products, clothing, and crockeries, said DNCC Chief Executive officer Abdul Hai.

"However, the 62 shops we had relocated at the temporary shed after the January 2017 fire were unharmed," he said.

Gulshan police station OC Abu Bakar Siddique said that they were preparing a list documenting the losses and damage of the shops in the market.

The market was gutted by a devastating fire in January 2017, causing part of it to collapse.

A pair of major recent fire incidents in the capital shook the nation, the first being a fire in Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar that took 70 lives, and the second that took place on Thursday in a commercial building in the upscale area of Banani, killing 25.

Meanwhile, Traders Association Secretary Abul Kashem smelt a rat behind the kitchen market’s catching fire repeatedly as he said the city corporation intends to build a new establishment on this land.

“In the 2017 fire, goods and products valued Tk500-600 crore were gutted to ashes, but none of the traders received any compensation. This year, we are yet to assume the losses, but we will need compensation for sure,” he added.

A fire truck arrives at the scene of the devastating fire at DNCC market in Gulshan 1, on March 30 | Syed Zakir Hossain

Fire Service has already formed a five-member committee, headed by its Deputy Director Shamim Ahsan Chowdhury, to investigate the incident and submit a probe report within seven days.

DNCC authorities yesterday also formed another seven-strong probe team, headed by its chief engineer, to find the people responsible for the fire, assess the damage and recommend future action.

This committee was asked to submit its report within five days.

Market authorities’ negligence blamed

The DNCC owns a kitchen market and a supermarket on a seven bigha land at Gulshan 1. The market was set up in 1962 and shops were allocated to businessmen in 1983.

On January 3, 2017, the market was gutted by a devastating fire causing part of it to collapse. That fire had damaged around 700 permanent and temporary businesses causing around Tk500-600 crore losses.

LGRD Minister Tajul Islam yesterday admitted that the market authorities had neglected to implement the fire safety measures even after the 2017 fire.

DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam also said that the corporation, in multiple occasions, had asked traders and shopkeepers to implement proper fire suppression system, but they did not cooperate due to complexity over their shop ownership and leases.

The mayor said they will need around two weeks to rehabilitate people who suffered losses in the fire and compensations under existing government laws will be provided to affected traders.

Fire Service official Maj Shakil said they too informed the market authorities earlier to ensure fire safety measures, as they found the whole DNCC Market complex risky, but the authorities instead filed a writ petition against the Fire Service.

Cash aid for traders, rice for labourers

Meanwhile, the government yesterday also announced that Tk10,000 would be given to each trader and 20kg of rice to each labourer affected by the DNCC market fire.

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman, after inspecting the spot yesterday afternoon, said the traders and labourers would receive the aid based on the list prepared.

The ministry will recommend rehabilitation of the victims, he added.

Responding to traders’ query on how they will continue their business during the upcoming Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr without a market, the minister said he has spoken with Mayor Atiqul about the issue and the market would be rebuilt at the same place as soon as possible.

Asked whether the renovation would be complete before the Eid, Enamur said: “It is a matter of the city corporation.”

'Everything turned into ashes'

Two brothers, Jahirul Islam and Abdus Salam, shop owners at DNCC market, rushed to the place after they were informed about the fire over phone by an acquaintance.

Jahirul Islam could not stop his tears after arriving at the spot and seeing the devastation caused by the fire.

"It happened to me again. I have recently just taken out a loan of Tk5 lakh and stocked new products at the shop. And everything I worked for turned into ashes today," Jahirul said.

He said: "Our lives have no value! All five of my shops in the kitchen market were completely burned down, while one shop that I own with my brother in the supermarket was also destroyed by fire. The supermarket caught fire awhile after the grocery market. What will I do now? Again, this fire!"

His elder brother Abdus Salam said they still cannot measure the extent of their losses, after which both brothers continued crying.

Nine of their shops were affected by the fire. Their shops in the DNCC supermarket had contained disposable plastic products, crockery items, carpets, ceramics and more.

Jahirul Islam urged the fire service to procure better equipment.

This is the second time they became victims of fire that erupted in the DNCC market, as their shops were destroyed previously when a fire gutted part of the market in January 2017.