After Bangabazar and New Market, now the names of traders of Mohammadpur Krishi Market have been added to the list of destitute.
The lives of several hundreds of traders were turned upside down in just a few hours as their shops and the goods inside got burned to ashes in front of their eyes in a massive fire that broke out at Krishi Market in Mohammadpur in the capital early Tuesday.
They are lamenting losing goods worth several crores of taka in the fire.
After learning about the fire, the traders thronged the market — only to see their shops and goods burn.
The market has more than a thousand shops on Taj Mahal Road in Mohammadpur. There were about 350 shops in the part where the fire broke out.
However, most of the shops were damaged due to the severity of the fire. Businessmen have seen the only means of income burning before their eyes. They tried hard so that they could save anything from being gutted.
The intensity of the fire on the one hand and the coil of smoke on the other hand, as well as the traders are in grief, anger and desperation.
Members of Bangladesh Army, Navy and Bangladesh Air Force have helped the fire service teams to bring the fire under control.
Additional members of the police have been deployed to ensure that there is no disruption in the fire control work including rescue and assistance.
Besides, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed to control the situation.
The affected businessmen said that the fire broke out in the early hours of April 4 this year in the capital's Bangabazar and April 15 in Newmarket which affected many businessmen of the markets.
Now, their names have been added to the list of destitute traders, they said.
A trader wishing anonymity said: “I have been doing business here for more than a year. Almost all the goods in my shop were burnt. Not only did I suffer, but my family also suffered. What to do now, nothing comes to mind.”
Another affected businessman said: “I cannot say whether the government will stand by the affected traders. But if there is any financial assistance, it should be transparently distributed to everyone - this will be the demand.”
Officials of the fire service said that due to the shortage of water, they had to struggle hard to bring the fire under control.
Besides, the market has various types of flammable materials including tin-wood and the fire has spread rapidly around. When they poured water into the fire, there was a coil of smoke in the adjoining areas which also hampered fire control work, they said.