Business in the busy Nilkhet book market in the capital for Jahangir Alam Chowdhury’s family began in 1968. Jahangir claims that the first shop in the market was set up by his grandfather and father. It was named Friendship Book Shop.
After the death of Jahangir’s grandfather, he along with his brother supported the family business under the guidance of his father. The family owns three shops in the market that caught fire at around 8pm on Tuesday night.
“These bookstores are our only source of income. After the fire my family has no income at all,” Jahangir told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.
“All the books in our stores were burnt. We could not save anything. After extinguishing the fire, we could not even find a book that hadn’t been reduced to ashes,” he added.
Describing the incident, Jahangir said: "It took less than five minutes for the fire to spread. I could only hear people crying for help. I didn't have the time to bring the books with me.”
A total of 10 units of the fire service rushed to the spot and doused the blaze 50 minutes later.
Shop owners estimated a loss of around Tk5-6 crore in the fire as nearly 50 shops were gutted in the fire.
All the books in more than 15 shops were burnt to ashes, shop owners have said.
Victims helpless with double loss
Traders at the book market in Nilkhet say they were making a turnaround after incurring huge losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another shop owner, Mohammad Raihan, bought books worth Tk5 lakh a few days ago. He stood helpless on the pile of burnt books after managing to save 20 books from the blaze.
Mohammad Biplob, owner of Mahanagar Book Stall, said: "I have two shops as part of our family business. The market was closed for a long time due to the pandemic. We were looking to cover the losses incurred in the last two years.”
“My store did not catch fire since it was on the ground floor. But half the books in it were soaked in water by the fire fighters,” he continued.
Rashedul Haque, owner of Probhati Book Stall, claimed that he saw the fire originating from Friendship Book Corner.
Fear of being unemployed again
Sajjad, a book seller, lost his job when the first lockdown was imposed across the country in 2020.
After a year, the shop owner took him on board for half the salary. He accepted the deal and became in-charge of the store.
The owner started to pay him in full a few months back and Sajjad was happy again.
“After losing my job, I became a rickshaw puller as I had no work. After getting my job back, my family moved in with me in Dhaka recently. What will I do now?”
Owners of shops that were gutted in the fire told their employees that there would be no income until the shops were in business again.
Another book seller, Ripon, told Dhaka Tribune that he could not go and had stood among the ashes all night. “How will I tell my family that I am unemployed now?"
According to several shop owners and staff members, most of the shops had been closed on Tuesday as it was the weekly holiday for markets in the area. Still, some shopkeepers had kept the shops open.
On Wednesday morning, some were seen cleaning up their shops and brushing aside the ashes, putting the wet books off the shelves in the hope of a resumption of business.
