At least 25 shops were destroyed in a fire that spread through two markets in Dhaka's Khilgaon area on Thursday.
Ershad Hossain, Fire Service and Civil Defence HQ control room duty officer, confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
He also said that the fire broke out at Khilgaon Bazar City Corporation Market’s Kamarpotti area under the flyover around 3:15 am on Thursday. The blaze then engulfed the adjoining Pubali Shopping Market.
"It was brought under control around 5 am, and fully doused around 5:35 am, with the help of 15 firefighting units," he said.
Market traders had claimed the fire gutted at least 80 to 90 shops, whereas the fire service official said 25 shops were burnt.
However, the duty officer was unable to specify the number of shops that were damaged.
"We will form a probe committee to investigate the fire," Ershad Hossain said. "We will know the source of the fire after the committee submits its report."
Market Owners Association plan to meet over fire incidents
The General Secretary of Dhaka City Corporation Market, Khilgaon, Mokshed Ali Sarker said: "We, the shop owners and traders, were planning to hold a meeting over necessary fire security measures and other related issues today [Thursday], after hearing of the recent fires at other markets.
"We even arranged a dua mahfil yesterday for all those who lost their properties and lives in the (recent) fires,” he said. "However, a fire broke out at our very own market before we could hold the planned meeting."
Mokshed said, in total, there are 1,200 registered and unregistered shops in the Dhaka City Corporation, Pubali and Uttara Market Khilgaon, and among them, at least 80 to 90 shops have been gutted.
Shop owners suffer great loss
Monir Hossain, the owner of Mujibur Crockeries shop in the Khilgaon market said: "I was asleep in my shop when the fire broke out. Suddenly, around 2:30am, I woke up after hearing people shouting outside. I ran out to see that the fire had engulfed everything."
Monir says he has lost property amounting to Tk15-16 lakh.
Owner of Faisal Sari Bitan, Abul Kashem Mollah, said: "With Pohela Boishakh and Eid-ul-Fitr ahead, I had stored valuables worth Tk52 lakh in my shop. The fire has burnt all of that to ashes."
Md Shahbuddin, the owner of a cloth stop, told Dhaka Tribune that he had goods worth Tk25,000 in his shop, all of which were burnt to ashes.
The affected shop owner said: “We are all finished. We stocked the goods for Pahela Boishakh and Eid-ul-Fitr. All have become ashes.”
“These shops were our only means to provide for our family. We are very worried about how we will maintain our family expenses. Our demand to the government is to give us financial help.”
Devastating fires have continued to take away the lives and properties of Dhaka residents. Last month's fire at FR Tower in Banani claimed 26 lives; the month before, a fire that spread out from chemical warehouses in Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar area left 70 dead, and many more injured.
On March 30, another fire broke out at the kitchen market located near Gulshan 1 roundabout, gutting 291 shops, and damaging goods and assets worth Tk100-150 crore.