Fire-Ravaged Bangabazar: Traders can run shops in the open

Traders of the burnt-down Bangabazar Shopping Complex will erect makeshift shops on the ground to resume their business ahead of Eid.

The traders want to erect a marquee on the 21,250 square feet ground and set up shops on mats or papers as soon as the city corporation removes the charred remains of the wood-and-corrugated-iron-sheet building that was burnt to the ground on Tuesday.

The shop owners association leaders will meet officials of Dhaka South City Corporation on Sunday to decide how the arrangements can be made, said Jahirul Islam, president of Bangabazar Complex.

Ashikul Islam, another leader, said the traders now want to recover from the losses as much as possible ahead of the holidays and look forward to being rehabilitated.

The shop owners, who have always been averse to the city corporation's plan to make a 10-storey shopping mall in the place, are now more open to the idea, he added.

The association may even withdraw a writ petition it filed with the High Court to halt the city corporation initiative, he said.

But the process has to be fair, he added.

Mohammad Rony, a shop owner who suffered a significant loss, said, "Clothes worth Tk 25 lakh were completely burnt. If the government lends a hand, we may be able to start over."

Rakon Uddin, who owned two shops and two warehouses, said, "I have been running the business for 20 years. During Eids, I used to help poor people. But after losing about Tk 30 lakh, I am the one seeking handouts before Eid."

Meanwhile, Salman F Rahman, the prime minister's private industries and investment adviser, visited the site yesterday and said the place would be cleaned.

"Traders will be able to temporarily open their businesses, following laws and regulations," he said.

He added that the traders listed by the city corporation will be compensated within three to four days.

A DSCC committee making the list with the help of the owners' association was asked to submit its report by Sunday.

Dhaka Readymade Garments Beboshayee Samabay Samity organised a human chain on the rubble and urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to rehabilitate the traders.

DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh told reporters that the city corporation would stand by the small traders and investors so that they could recover their businesses.

"Our priority is to make their businesses operational again. We will sit with the traders to make a rehabilitation plan. After that, we will make a plan to build a new building in the place," he said.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court has placed three people on a one-day remand in a case filed over an attack on firefighters during the fire.