The recent fire in Mohakhali is yet another harsh reminder that, when it comes to making our city fire proof, the administration has failed to do even the bare minimum.
The 14-storey Khawaja Tower fire was finally put out after close to 12 hours, but with three people losing their lives and 10 others being injured and under treatment, this was 12 hours too late. If proper fire safety codes were implemented at the site in question, such an incident might have never happened.
And this is applicable to every such incident that has happened so far in the nation, especially in our cities. Fires have become a recurring incident in our country with a concentration inside Dhaka and other industrial areas. Disaster management experts, urban planners, and advocacyh groups have been emphasizing the need for proper building and fire safety codes for years, and while the administration has promised to do so on multiple occasions, unfortunately, there seems to be no visible progress on that front.
Too many promises to upgrade reactive structures such as firefighter units have been given, but promises alone mean nothing unless they are followed through with visible actions.
At which point does incompetence become willful complicity?
The authorities need to do better, and buildings which flout fire safety codes need to be identified publicly and their owners punished -- an empowered, dedicated committee to that end is of the utmost imperative. The solutions have to be implemented as soon as possible, and progress has to be assessed periodically.
Dhaka witnessed a number of dangerous fires earlier this year which should have been a wake-up call for all of us. We cannot afford to let this issue burn for much longer.
