Traders in for hard times

It was about 3:00pm when the young man was talking to someone over the phone and sharing his fear and uncertainty, as he looked tense in front of the Bashundhara City Shopping Complex.

It was after more than three hours had passed since the fire broke out on level-6 in one of the most popular shopping destinations in the capital.

“Since then, we are waiting outside and the fire is yet to be brought under control. Don't know what is going to be our fate,” the 25-year-old man told the person on the other end while sitting at a tea stall a few hundred yards away from the mall.

His name is Fahim Hossain and he works for a shop on level-6.

“Smoke was coming out when we were opening the store. We could not open the store. We had to leave,” said Fahim, whose shop is in Block-C of Level-6 where the fire broke out around 11:00am.

Block-C of Level-6 has nearly 100 shoe and leather shops.

Amin Footwear, where Fahim works, also sells leather goods such as jackets, belts, wallets and bags for men. And the value of the goods in the store would be between Tk 30 lakh and 40 lakh, he said.

“We make these in our factory. We also have a warehouse here,” he said, adding, “It is difficult to say how much of those have been damaged.”

Amin Footwear is one of the more than 2,325 shops in Bashundhara City, where products ranging from mobile phones, apparels, electronics, footwear and leather goods, cosmetics and jewellery are sold.

The complex also has a theme park, theatres and a food court.

Firefighters said the fire was limited to Level-6 but the smoke spread to other floors. Some seven to eight stores had been gutted while some had been damaged.

Smoke and water are likely to have damaged products, according to fire fighters and traders.

MA Hannan Azad, president of Bashundhara Shop Owners Association, said some 100 stores in Block-C of Level-6 were affected.

The fire did not spread because of the combined efforts of the fire brigade and Bashundhara City's own fire-fighting team, he said.

Jasim Uddin, head of marketing of Bashundhara City, said the extent of damage could not be assessed immediately. He feared high losses.

Sabuj, owner of two panjabi stores on Level-2, feared that the flames might have affected stores on Level-7 and -8.

“But we are in the dark about what is going on ... Unfortunately, five hours have passed but the fire brigade is yet to douse the fire,” he said around 4:00pm.

Iqbal Hossain, manager of the Bata Outpost on Level-7, echoed his view.

“We are waiting outside and we only see smoke coming out and fire fighters using water. We do not know the state of our products and shops,” he told The Daily Star by phone.

He feared that water and heat might have damaged products, particularly footwear and leather goods.

Salesmen and store owners said they were getting ready for the day's business when the fire broke out and that customer presence was low.

“I came to know about the fire just after opening the store. We were asked to leave as soon as the smoke began to thicken,” said Abdullah Al Mamun, manager of a clothing store on Level-3.

Mohammad Rana, 17, who works as a waiter at the food court on Level-8, said a lot of food might have been destroyed by the smoke and heat. “We usually have to buy a huge amount of ingredients every day,” he said.

An official of Venus Jewellers on Level-5 said they were afraid of leaving the store fearing security of the gold. “But we had to leave.”