Fire Service and Civil Defence officials on Thursday said Gawsia market in the capital Dhaka is at heavy risk of fire incident.
Bazlur Rashid, Assistant Deputy Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence made this remark after inspecting the market for safety protocols.
He said that the Gawsia market doesn't even have their own firefighting team, fire hydrant, smoke detector, or water sources to douse the fire.
According to him, during rescue operation firefighters are in urgent need of a sufficient amount of water, but the number of water sources in the market is not enough.
“We have found some fire extinguishers and a source of reserve water but that isn't enough to douse a big fire,” he continued.
Gawsia Market Shop Owners Association Convener Md Kamrul Hasan Babu, however, gave assurance that they would identify the problems within two-three days what the fire service department recommend.
Bazlur Rashid further said, most of the shopping malls in Dhaka city don't comply with the fire service's recommendations.
He also said a good number of Dhaka shopping markets and kitchen markets are at risk. Among them, markets in Thataribazar, Rajdhani Supermarket, and Chawkbazar are at the highest risks.
During the visit, National Security Intelligence officials were also present.
