Bangabazar Fire: Traders to resume business tomorrow

Shop owners of Bangabazar Shopping Complex, which was burnt to the ground last week, can start their business in makeshift shops from tomorrow, said the authorities.

Dhaka South City Corporation has been removing the debris and burnt goods from the scene since Friday.

Mizanur Rahman, chief executive officer at the DSCC, told The Daily Star that they are trying their best to clear the debris before Wednesday.

Zahirul Islam, general secretary of Bangabazar Shop Owners' Association, said they have requested DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh to reopen the makeshift market.

He said they would sit with all traders on Wednesday noon to discuss how the market will run.

Zahirul added that everyone will get a shop irrespective of the number of shops owned by an affected trader.

Traders primarily said the fire destroyed around 3,000 shops and readymade garments stored in them. Shop owners' leaders claimed that goods worth around Tk 1,000 crore were lost.

Meanwhile, the partially affected Anexco Tower, adjacent to Bangabazar Shopping Complex, was reopened yesterday.

Electricity supply to the market is yet to resume, said Nazmul Alam, owner of Abir Fashions of the tower. "We are running our business with rechargeable lights".

Meanwhile, the DSCC probe committee could not file its report yesterday.

The body, led by Marina Nazneen, executive officer at Dhaka South City Corporation Zone-1, said they have almost completed the work. "But we are yet to get the list of the affected traders. We will submit the report tomorrow [Tuesday]."

Marina added that during the investigation, they took an electrical engineer with them to find the cause of the fire.

DSCC spokesperson Abu Naser said they estimated that the number of affected traders would be nearly 4,200. The affected ones of the Anexco Tower were not included as they have insurance.

In another development, two women donated Tk 91,000 to the affected traders. Apan Jewellers also donated Tk 20 lakh.