The country and its people are still reeling in with shock from the tragedy that happened on Bailey Road last Thursday. In its aftermath, a writ petition was filed with the High Court yesterday by a Supreme Court lawyer, seeking necessary directives to shut down all restaurants in residential buildings in the capital. The petitioner also urged the court to issue directives for providing compensation to the bereaved family members of the 46 people killed in the Bailey Road fire incident.
This writ petition indeed brings a very pertinent issue to the fore – the whole capital is actually a ticking bomb waiting to be exploded anytime as there are hundreds of residential buildings which have been turned into commercial establishments for accommodating spaces to restaurants, flouting building codes and other regulatory issues.
To be particular, areas such as Dhanmondi, Jigatola, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Khilgaon and Bailey Road are awash with restaurants, most of which have been set up in establishments which are not permitted to run commercial activities or rent spaces to commercial entities including restaurants. According to information provided by Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association, Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur areas alone house at least 300 dining establishments.
The problem does not lie with the rising number of restaurants, rather with the fact that these restaurants are running their operations without adhering to requisite safety measures. In addition to this impending danger, there are hundreds of eateries housed on the ground floor of innumerable residential buildings which do not really care about fire safety issues. They run their kitchens in a very risky way by putting gas cylinders in open space, thus seriously jeopardising lives of those who dine in those restaurants. In addition to the risk factors, restaurants in residential buildings are also ruining the character of those respective areas.
In this connection, the writ petition filed by the supreme court lawyer is a welcome move and we strongly believe that concerned authorities need to consider this petition with due diligence. Whenever we see any such untoward incident, authorities carry out some pro-forma actions which do not really yield something sustainable. We hope regulatory bodies will jolt themselves out of the inertia and take some considerable steps so that we do not have to write any more editorial in near future lamenting the loss of innocent lives.