‘Would rather die than see income go up in flames’

Saiful Islam, owner of three shops at the New Super Market, tried his best to retrieve clothes from his shop after a massive fire ripped through the market early today.

But he failed.

Left shell-shocked, Saiful said, "I would rather die than see my hard-earned income go up in flames."

Saiful said he and his close relatives have a total of eight shops at the market. The fire destroyed all the shops, causing a loss of Tk 8 crore, he added.

Arifuzzaman Arif, the owner of Mishu Fashion, said he had Eid panjabis worth TK  50 lakh in his three shops. He just received new products worth TK 3 lakh yesterday. All were burned inside the shops.

Arif had also taken a TK 10 lakh loan for this upcoming Eid but the fire left him uncertain about how he would repay it, he said.

Jahid Hossain, the owner of three shops named Alamin Garments, said, "We had clothes worth TK 2 lakh for Eid and everything has burned down."

"The fire has gutted the only source of income of my family of six," said Raj, who has two shops at the market.

He said, "We left the market around 3:00am early today after closing the sales. The money that came from the last few days' sales was kept in the shops. There were money and goods worth Tk 12 lakh. Nothing is left."

Amena Begum, the owner of Sultan Fashion on the market's second floor, who suffered a huge loss in the fire, said, "We brought goods worth Tk 10 lakh from Kaliganj and Mirpur a day ago. Nothing is left. My son is crying. How can I console him?" she said, wiping her tears.

Another shop owner, Amit, who had a shop on the market's second floor, revealed that they had bought goods worth Tk 8 lakh for the season.

He stated, "Goods and money from sales on the last day of business were in the shops. Everything was gutted in the fire."

Several other traders were seen crying inconsolably as the fire had burnt many of their livelihoods.