211 shops of DNCC market razed in fire

Around 211 tin-shed business establishments were completely razed in the fire that ripped through the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) kitchen market in Gulshan-1 this morning.

While talking to The Daily Star, DNCC market President Din Mohammad confirmed the number of the damaged shops and said all the stores damaged in the fire were on the ground floor of the market premises.

Around 68 stores were left undamaged as they were situated a little far away from the spot.

The fire originated at the tin-shed kitchen market around 5:45am and later spread to the third floor of the adjacent Gulshan market, said Abu Bakar Siddique, officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station.

The fire was doused completely around 10:30am. No casualties were reported in the fire.

Twenty firefighting units brought the blaze under control around 8:25am, sources at the Fire Service and Civil Defence told The Daily Star.

Move the middle bar to see DNCC market fire incidents in 2017 and 2019

But many shops were gutted at the kitchen market in the blaze, sources said.

Move the middle bar to see DNCC market fire incidents in 2017 and 2019

The reason behind the fire could not be known immediately.

Meanwhile, Fire Service and Civil Defence Director (Operations) Shakil Newaz said there were not enough equipment at the spot to bring the blaze under control.

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The last call

After the fire in 2017 at the same place, letters were sent to the authorities’ concerned to keep firefighting equipment on the spot but to no avail, Shakil Newaz said.

DNCC Mayor Atiqul meets affected shopkeepers

Dhaka North City Corporation mayor Atiqul Islam went to the scene following the incident and consoled the affected shopkeepers and businesspersons.

The affected businesspersons urged the mayor to rebuild the tin-shed establishment within ten days to ensure they can restart their businesses.

In reply, the mayor said the earlier plan was to build a high-rise establishment in the area but it cannot be implemented without the affected businessmen’s consent.

The owners of Mehran Enterprise were in tears after their small 50 square feet shop was razed down by the fire for the second time in the span of two years.

Their store had local and international products, especially chocolates, tin food and so on and incurred a loss of around Tk 20 lakh in this fire.

Their shop was gutted in the fire in 2017 as well, said Mizanur Rahman, one of the four owners of the shop.

There was also Tk 2.25lakh cash in the store which also burned down today, said Mizanur Rahman.

Their families depended on the income of this shop, he added.

They had taken a loan to cover the losses incurred in 2017 fire and had repaid a large portion of that loan but with this fire, they are now completely ruined, said Mizanur.

2017 fire at DNCC Market

On January 3, 2017, a devastating fire reduced much of the DNCC Market at Gulshan-1 to rubble. No one was killed or hurt in that blaze but over 300 shops were gutted and a portion of the market collapsed on impact, causing losses worth several hundred of crores of taka.

The fire at the DNCC market comes just two days after the deadly fire at Banani FR tower that claimed the lives of 25 people and left around 100 injured.