Nimtoli disaster
Photo: AFP
This is the worst fire disaster the nation has witnessed. People of the most densely populated Dhaka city were afraid of earthquake and for a long time they were being warned of countless loss of lives and widespread property damage as well as environmental disaster. But this blaze at Nimtoli involving a few houses has shown us a new dimension of potential risks that we are living with. The government has formed a committee to investigate this fire disaster a normal course of action that is followed in all such cases. But ultimately, people do not know about the recommendations as well as implementation of corrective and preventive measures. Already, there is uproar about chemical outlets in residential areas and hundreds of locals took to the street chanting slogans as a mobile court raided warehouses and factories of flammable materials in Nimtoli after this deadly inferno. This is one side of the job that is possible. But what to do about power transformers, that many people believe, exploded and caused the fire at Nimtoli and presence of chemical just added fuel to the fire. It is learnt there are about 8,000 such power transformers only in old Dhaka. Within a few yards of my house at East Rampura, Dhaka, there is a power transformer that many times caused repeated short circuits, heavy sparks and wire burnt from overloading. Recently, DESA replaced it by a new one. After the Nimtoli incident many tenants of my building are seriously thinking to leave the flats. I believe, many in this city, especially where roads are narrow and buildings are too congested, will face the same problem. The power distribution authorities must do something to address this concern centring the power transformers.
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