Despite being two of the major hubs of the capital, Gulshan and Banani do not have any fire stations.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Md Atiqul Islam blamed Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) for the lack of such crucial service.
Those concerned said that many people including foreigners and important people live in these areas. At the same time, there are government, private, national and international offices along with embassies of many countries. As a result, safety in these areas are highly necessary.
The DNCC market of Gulshan-1 has been the subject of several fire incidents in the last few years causing damages and losses to businessmen.
Besides, on March 28, 2019, about 27 people lost their lives instantly in the fire that occurred at FR Tower on Kemal Ataturk Avenue in Banani of the capital.
Hundreds of people were also injured in the fire incident. The fire started from the 9th floor of the 23-storied building at around 12:30pm. Twenty-five units of the fire service brought the fire under control around 7pm after about 6.5 hours of effort.
Following the incident, the fire service had put up different banners identifying buildings that were at a fire risk in the area. Various programs and initiatives were also implemented by Rajuk, police and the city corporation.
Most recently, on Sunday evening, at least two people were killed in a fire that broke out at a multistorey building in Gulshan.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General (DG) Brigadier General Md Main Uddin had said a total of 19 firefighting units managed to bring the flames under control after four hours at around 11pm.
Several people, including three, were injured after jumping off the building. Twenty-two people were rescued alive from different floors and roof of the building.
Almost every district or police station in the country has a separate fire station. However, despite so many fire incidents, no fire station has been opened in important areas like Gulshan and Banani.
In this regard, DNCC Mayor Md Atiqul Islam said: “Rajuk owns the allotment of land in Gulshan and Banani. If they don't allot the space, how can we construct fire stations there?”
“Fire stations are not being constructed here due to non-availability of space. A fire station will be constructed as soon as space is allocated for the station,” he added.
Debashish Vardhan, retired Deputy Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence (Operation and Maintenance) said: “Gulshan-Banani are not commercial areas, but many businesses are being established there. The buildings there do not have adequate water supply. Most of the buildings do not have water reserve tanks for fire.”
“After the fire incident at Banani's FR Tower, we have made everyone aware of the various precautions to be taken. But we still do not see any result,” he added.
Debashish further said: “Last night there was a fire incident in Gulshan-2. But no water was found there either. And because of that we had to bring water from Gulshan Lake. This must have lengthened our work.”
He also mentioned that almost every district-police station of the country has a separate fire station but none in important areas like Gulshan and Banani.
Deputy Director (Planning) of Fire Service and Civil Defence Babul Chakraborty told Bangla Tribune: “We want fire stations in every place in Bangladesh. Baridhara, Kurmitola, and Tejgaon have fire service stations. Whenever a fire incident occurs in Gulshan-Banani, the fire station staff of these three areas goes for rescue.”
“As far as I know, there are no plans to construct fire stations in these two areas at present. However, this situation needs to be sorted,” he added.
