A fire in an electric fan factory in Gazipur on Sunday left 10 dead and 15 injured only four days after a fire broke out in a plastic factory in Keraniganj that had left, till Monday, 20 people dead. Another victim of the deadly fire at a plastic factory in Keraniganj has succumbed to her injuries, raising the death toll to 20. The victim, identified as Sohana, 19, died during treatment at the burns unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Wednesday.
She had 50 percent of her body burn injuries, said Samanta Lal Sen, the coordinator of the burns unit at DMCH. A devastating fire gutted the Prime Pet and Plastic Industry factory in Keraniganj’s Chunkutia on Dec 11. The plastic factory was operating without any permission for five years, according to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.
Fire-fighters pulled out one body from the factory and 19 others injured in the incident subsequently died in the hospital. Twelve others are still undergoing treatment in the hospital, according to Dr Sen. The fire service survey report shows that 98 percent of Dhaka metropolitan buildings, hospitals and clinics are under risk of fire incidents.
There is no arrangement and training of the public and private authorities on how to deal with the risks of fire in these buildings, hospitals and clinics. There is no exact picture on the number of unauthorized factories across the country. But whenever an accident occured in a factory, it was only then known that it was unauthorized.
The question of why such an illegal factory was able to operate for years under the very nose of the administration. Why did the authorities concerned not take appropriate action and shut them down. The Department of Urban & Regional Planning Professor Afsana Haque at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said, “Even no effective action is taken against the authorities. Because of this, the number of illegal factories is increasing. These factories, which are built without any rules, are becoming deathzone.
It is the responsibility of the Directorate of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE) under the Ministry of Labor to ensure safe and pleasant working environment and improved quality of workers in the mill and factories. The organization is committed to abolishing child labor, implementing labor laws and regulations, ensuring occupational health and safety of workers in the workplace and ensuring wage structure, she added.
She suggested that, even after all this, factories are allowed to run, illegally, without having the required fire safety protocol in place. According to Section 326 of the Labor Act and 354 of the Labor Rules, every owner or occupant has to apply for registration of factory, industrial establishment, trade organization, shop and contractor company registration and license approval.
The Luxury Fan Factory housed in a two-storey building is reported to be illegal, as was the plastic factory in Keraniganj. Police reports say that the fan factory building did not have fire safety measure as was the case with the Keraniganj plastic factory. Two of the latest incidents suggest sheer negligence and continued indifference of the authorities concerned towards fire safety issues.
Such negligence and indifferences have continued as is evident in a series of factory fires incidents that took place earlier. Earlier, a fire in chemical warehouses at Nimtali on June 3, 2010 left 124 people dead. Another fire in a plastic factory at Mirpur on January 31, 2015 left 13 people dead, a fire in a residential building that housed a chemical factory at Chawk Bazar on February 20, 2019 left 67 people dead.
Urban Planning Specialist Syed Nazrul Islam blamed that, owners of factories, shops and warehouses that run their business without adhering to fire safety protocol are also to responsible. The government agencies usually run irregular drives, mostly after a fire incident, but fail to make any improvement in the situation, he added.
He also mentioned, this is the job that government agencies should do to make places safe for the citizens. They need to do research, talk with stakeholders and work out plans to effectively minimize the risk of fire, not just in commercial entities but also in residential buildings. Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments statistics say that there are more than eight million economic establishments in formal and informal sectors across the country and it is difficult to ensure that all these establishments have fire safety measures in place.