Nimtoli memories haunting still

Today is June 3.

It might be just another day for most of the people, but for the residents of Old Dhaka's Nimtoli, the day is a reminder of the horror of a devastating fire on this night in 2010 that claimed 124 lives, mostly women and children, and injured more than 200.

Seven years have gone by, but some of the affected families are still haunted by the memory and unable to get back on their feet.

Abul Kashem and two of his brothers still live on the same land with their 14-member family, where they had three houses before.

But everything they had was burnt in the fire.

“This was our home,” said Kashem pointing towards the makeshift houses on the small piece of land. “We are surviving as if we live in a slum.”

Though the family survived the tragedy, they have lost everything, he said.

“It would have been better if we had died,” said Kashem, alleging that their families did not receive any aid after the fire incident since none of them died.

Kashem, a father of four daughters, recently lost his tea-stall too. “I could not maintain it as I had to repay the loan I took to take care of my family.”

Kashem's elder brother Nasir, 50, who used to be a factory worker before, is unable to work now. “He became mentally ill,” claimed Kashem. “Now, two of his sons are working to help the family survive.”

Their 70-year-old mother lives with Bashir, 40 the youngest brother, who is also sick, he claimed.

“They are surviving on our father's pension, who was a clerk at a primary school,” he added.

Kashem's neighbour and also a relative, Sabuj lost six members of his family in the fire. “It has been seven years, I'm still struggling to survive.” He said now they live in a rented house nearby.

“The burnt place is still vacant,” he added.

Gulzar Elahe, owner of the building from where the fire originated, lost 11 family members in the deadly fire.

“Not a day goes by I don't think about them. The memory of that night still haunts me,” he said.

According to fire fighters, the fire originated from a stove in the building that housed a combustible chemical depot on the ground floor.

When the fire came in contact with the chemicals it engulfed eight residential buildings and some 20 shops within a few minutes.

The residents of the Nimtoli area claimed that they have kept the area free from the stocks of flammable chemicals ever since the incident took place.

Now they want the same for the neighbouring areas to avoid another disaster.

Many also lamented that the owner of the chemical depot is not arrested.

When asked, Gulzar Elahe said the owner rented the depot for storing plastic materials. “I did not know he was storing flammable chemical materials,” he claimed.

After the Nimtoli tragedy, authorities concerned conducted several drives to keep the Old Dhaka free of those hazardous materials, but the chemical stocks remained as the drives stopped.

The Daily Star published a report on March 2 this year titled, “Old Dhaka exposed to chemical hazards,” which showed that 360 stores, warehouses, factories and shops with the chemicals were found highly hazardous in terms of fire safety, handling of the chemicals and explosion management, according to the findings of a recent fire inspection.

The only way to avoid the danger is to relocate them immediately, Major AKM Shakil Newaz, director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, earlier said.

The chemical stocks were surveyed in different areas of Lalbagh, Bangshal, Armanitola, Moulavibazar, Imamganj, Islambagh, Shahidnagar, Kamrangirchar, Chalkbazar, Mitford and Babubazar.

The Dhaka South City Corporation along with the fire department was all set to launch an eviction drive from March 1. However, it had to be postponed due to a lack of police support, said DSCC sources.

Following the devastating Nimtoli tragedy in June 2010, the commerce ministry was supposed to build a “chemical village” in Keraniganj, after acquiring land, building the physical structure and ensuring safety, for relocation of the chemical stores from the residential areas.

But the Keraniganj village has not been developed by the government yet.