Editorial
Deadly trade in a crowded place
The culprits must be brought to justice
Hardly three months have passed since the devastating Nimtoli fire claimed 124 lives in the Old Dhaka, when 50 residents of a six-storey house were taken ill Wednesday morning after they inhaled toxic fumes from a dyeing factory in the densely populated Madhya Kunipara of Tejgaon Industrial Area of the city.
The incident is a glaring instance of total lack of respect for human lives on the part of the owner of the factory and that of the house.
One wonders how the residents of the house or the local people could allow to run such a factory dealing in hazardous chemicals in their midst. As far as the report goes, the factory, situated at the ground floor of the huge six-storey tin shed on a wooden structure, has a chimney that is only two-storey high to release the poisonous smoke it generates. And as such, it may not be a case of pure coincidence that all the gas victims were from the second floor of the multi-storied dwelling that housed some 200 people. One shudders to think of the terrible consequence had the accident occurred at dead of night or had the toxic smoke gassified the entire six-storey structure.
Though the mishap has not been accompanied by any death report so far, there is still no room for making light of the crime that puts the lives of so many people in danger. Does the duty end with only holding the factory owner or the landlord responsible for the disaster? And how could a dyeing factory run for so long inside a dwelling place unbeknown to the law-enforcers or the industry ministry, especially after the Nimtoli tragedy? And who knows, how many more similar factories or warehouses are being illegally run with gay abandon under the very nose of the police or the relevant government agencies concerned?
Mention may be made here of the task force the government had formed to look into the relocation of warehouses or establishments using flammable or otherwise hazardous chemicals in densely populated areas of the city. Does not the dyeing factory in question also fall under a similar category of setups in a crowded place?
The government should not drag its feet any longer about mounting a strong monitoring mechanism to find out such illegal factories pouring out toxic fumes or warehouses using hazardous chemicals in congested places and take necessary measures to either close down or relocate those to sites removed from residential and densely populated areas.
And in the case of the mishap under review, the culprits behind endangering the lives of so many people must be taken into custody and brought to justice in an exemplary fashion.
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