THIS is deplorable that the authorities have failed to relocate chemical warehouses from residential neighbourhoods in Dhaka even 10 years after the project was initiated. Despite repeated disasters at Nimtali, Chawkbazar and, most recently, Rupnagar, the relocation of chemical warehouses remains mired in a cycle of missed deadlines and unfulfilled pledges. The failure has resulted in more fires, more death and left Dhaka residents to continue to live in fear of chemical-fuelled infernos. After the Nimtali fire in 2010, which killed at least 124 people, the government vowed to move all chemical storage facilities out of Old Town of Dhaka. Yet, more than a decade later, hazardous businesses continue to run across many areas of the city. The fire that killed 17 apparel workers at Rupnagar, Mirpur in October was not an accident. It was the inevitable consequence of negligence. Officials have confirmed that the fire originated from a nearby chemical store as it did in previous disasters. Two major relocation projects, including the BSCIC Chemical Industrial Park in Sirajdikhan, Munshiganj, were supposed to end this recurring nightmare. The chemical park, approved in 2018 involving Tk 1,454 crore, has already missed three deadlines and the project authorities now seek yet another extension, until 2027.
Officials of the explosives department say that 731 businesses now hold licences in the Dhaka division to store and sell 54 listed inflammable chemical items. They also admit that a few thousand such businesses run without licences, exploiting regulatory loopholes that exclude certain so-called 鈥榥on-flammable鈥� chemicals although such substances can become deadly when mixed with other agents. City corporation officials acknowledge their awareness of the illegal operation and say that they have for long suspended issuing trade licences for any chemical businesses in residential neighbourhoods. This web of weak enforcement and overlapping jurisdictions has created a dangerous status quo where every day is a gamble for Dhaka residents living beside potential 鈥榗hemical bombs.鈥� Urban planners and fire safety experts have for long warned that allowing such businesses to coexist with houses, schools and hospitals constitutes institutional recklessness. In the name of mixed-use zoning, Dhaka has normalised the unacceptable. The health hazards and death toll from toxic fumes, unsafe storage and frequent fires are immense, yet accountability remains elusive. Each fire brings public outrage, official visits and fresh vows of reform and relocation only to be followed by silence. The relocation of plastic factories is likewise mired in bureaucratic delays, land disputes and funding bottlenecks.
The government must treat the completion of the relocation projects as an emergency, not as a development target to be achieved in some indeterminate future. Financial and logistical challenges cannot justify endangering millions. The authorities must act now and decisively before the next explosion wreaks havoc.
