The Banani fire which has claimed more than 20 lives so far is another tragedy for our nation. We have seen a number of such tragedies hit Dhaka now in a span of only a few weeks.

And what have we learned? That those making the decisions at every level of government could not care less about the safety and security of people living in the city. All of these fires could have been avoided had corruption not destroyed all safety mechanisms and had apathy not led to the complete breakdown of governance and city management.

Yet, despite not being responsible for the mess, it is the firemen who have to risk their lives trying to douse fires in extremely difficult conditions. But it is not them who are responsible at all for these conditions in the first place, which is the real irony here.

Those making the decisions that have led to the complete breakdown of all safety procedures should be sent out to battle the flames too. Only then will they realise the cost of their apathy, and the sufferings of others because of them. And perhaps only then will we see these problems getting sorted out.

Lamia Hossain, Banani