Old Dhaka's looming peril

From a report carried in this newspaper, the old part of the capital is sitting on a powder keg waiting to explode, given the large number of chemical warehouses and shops still operating in the area. Adding to the prospect of accident is that the premises of many of these stores and shops are being used as hospitals and other public utilities.
We seem to become active only after a serious disaster strikes us as evident from the fact that the Nimtoli area, where a serious fire in 2010 caused in a chemical warehouse that took the life of 123 people, has now been freed of shops and stores containing flammable chemicals. The interesting aspect is that the relocation has been done entirely on the initiative of the public, and that begs the question.
Apparently, the government's action is limited only to setting up a committee to address the issue. Nothing palpable has been done as yet since the decision to shift the chemical warehouses from the residential areas was taken in 2011.  Surely, an issue of public safety cannot be hamstrung by bureaucratic inertia. It would be pertinent to ask whether the ministry has set a time for the said committee to complete its tasks of removing the warehouses that pose danger to public safety.
But while the matter of relocation will take time to implement the city corporation in the meanwhile must ensure that the prospect of accidents is reduced as much as possible by taking all possible safety measures.