20200311 Fire ravages slum in Dhaka’s Rupnagar
Bangladesh Mar 11 2020 “Building” “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : more than 70 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire ravages slum in Dhaka‘s Rupnagar
Updated: 2020–03–11
A massive fire has engulfed the western part of the Jheelpar slum in Mirpur’s Rupnagar residential area.
The blaze erupted at the settlement adjacent to Mirpur’s fire-ravaged Chalantika slum at 9:45am on Wednesday, according to the Fire Service’s control room officer Russel Shikder.
As many as 25 units of the fire service bruoght the flames under control around 1pm, he said.
As the fire intensified, it also spread to a six-storey building next to the slum. Angry locals subsequently vandalised a fire service vehicle alleging that it had been late to reach the scene.
According to the area’s former councillor Haji Rajjab Hossain, the part of the slum which caught fire houses over 1,000 shanties. At least 200 shanties were destroyed by the fire, he estimated.
“The fire service’s access to the scene was impeded by the large crowds gathered on the streets. It also hampered efforts to douse the fire. It would have been better if the fire service personnel entered the area from the Arambagh point.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the incident. The authorities could not determine the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage.
According to fire service personnel at the scene, the narrow alleys leading to the slum made it difficult for their vehicles to pass through. The lack of a water source nearby also hindered efforts to extinguish the blaze.
Domestic worker Hajera Khatun lost her home in the blaze. The situation was normal when she left for work in the morning, according to Hajera. But she later rushed back from work when she noticed smoke billowing out of the slum.
Although she tried to retrieve some of her belongings from her shanty, the intensity of the fire meant she had back off while watching scores of shacks burn before her eyes.
But a few locals have voiced suspicions over the outbreak of the fire following the two blazes which gutted the nearby Chalantika slum twice in the space of five months between August last year and January this year.
A signboard of the Public Works and Housing Ministry hangs next to the area where the latest originated. It says the site is designated for a housing project for the rehabilitation of lower and lower-middle class families.
Local MP Elias Uddin Mollah, who was at the scene of the blaze, said the residents affected by the fire will temporarily be lodged in a school nearby.
“No one will be living under the open sky. We will stand by them until their homes become habitable. We will bear all the expenses relating to their food, shelter and clothing.”
Web Source: Bdnews24
https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2020/03/11/fire-breaks-out-at-rupnagar-slum