Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned to rehabilitate the traders who lost their shops and goods in Tuesday's fire at the Bangabazar area of the capital.
According to the initial plan, the affected traders will get support from the government in two phases: first they will get financial aid within next week, and then they will get new shops at the same place when a new wholesale market is constructed.
Around 5,000 shops, mostly owned by small traders, were damaged in the fire that broke out at 6:10am on Tuesday.
With Eid approaching, all the shops were full of clothes and other products which were almost completely destroyed by the fire.
Goods worth over Tk2,500 crore were damaged in the fire, said Bangladesh Shop Owners Association President Helal Uddin.
There are four markets – Bangabazar Market, Mahanagar Market, Adarsha Market, and Gulistan Market – in the area. People refer to all of them together as Bangabazar Shopping Complex.
Traders said about 3,000 shops in these four markets were destroyed by the fire.
On Tuesday, the Bangladesh Shop Owners Association urged the government to initially allocate Tk700 crore for the small traders of the Bangabazar market to recoup the losses caused by the massive fire.
For its part, the government has set a guideline to define the affected traders to disburse financial aid and rehabilitate at the new market later.
Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will give adequate financial support to the traders affected by the fire at Bangabazar.
Yesterday afternoon, when leaders of the affected markets came to the mayor's office at Nagar Bhaban for a meeting, DSCC Mayor Taposh announced the initial plan and said he had talked to the prime minister and the premier gave these instructions to tackle the sudden losses in fire incidents.
Local lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon, lawmaker Kishoreganj-5 and business leader of that area Afzol Hossain, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DSCC Mizanur Rahman, relevant officials of the DSCC and related business leaders of the Bangabanzar Shopping complex, among others, were at the meeting.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will give sufficient grants so that the small businessmen affected by this fire can turn things around again. Besides, we will also give grants to the affected businessmen from the City Corporation, according to our capacity,” Taposh added.
DSCC Mayor Taposh also instructed the affected traders to cooperate with the investigation committee formed by the city corporation and in the making of a list of affected traders by next Saturday.
Mentioning the need for and importance of the affected businessmen coming under the grant plan, Taposh said: "You should work honestly and diligently so that no one other than the actual affected businessmen's names appear on the list.”
The DSCC mayor further said: “Provide the names of the actual shop owners and attach the owners' mobile numbers and national identity cards to the list. If the shop is rented, then attach the name, mobile number and national identity card of the tenant as well as the owner,"
A coordination meeting with the business leaders regarding the list of affected traders will be held next Sunday, he said at the meeting.
While visiting the site of the fire yesterday, BNP leader Ishraque Hossain, who had earlier contested the mayoral race in DSCC, urged the government to verify the affected traders' list carefully so that people beyond the ruling party can get support.
Sources said there are many businessmen at some wholesale markets of Dhaka, including the Bangabazar market complex, who have operated shops for a long time without having any legal documents, which could be a challenge for the DSCC in the making of the list.