Fire burns New Super Market traders' Eid sales hope to ashes
Highlights:
- 500 of 1,275 shops at the New Super Market have been completely burnt
- Traders are at a loss with the big around the corner
- 12 nearby markets and some 10,000 foothpath stores were kept closed after yesterday's fire
- Closure of the markets caused Tk50cr loss in a day
Yet another fire incident, this time at the capital's New Super Market – next to the New Market – some 11 days after the Bangabazar blaze, has completely burnt over 500 of the 1,275 shops at the three-storey building shattering the Eid sales hope of the market's traders.
Some 28 fire service units battled the blaze for some three hours before they were able to bring it under control. However, it took until evening for the heavy black smoke to clear from the market, which had been partially destroyed.
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Rakib Hossain, owner of Alijaz Collection, said he left some Tk 1 Lakh in the shop's cash register after making Eid sales till 3am on Saturday.
Rakib was all set to bring in goods worth Tk2 lakh yesterday morning to meet Eid demand, but his Eid sale hopes, like at least over 1,000 others, went up in flames.
After losing goods worth Tk15 lakh, Rakib said, "The fire gutted everything. I could not save a single product. I don't know how I will repay my Tk8 lakh loan."
Meanwhile the fire led to some 12 markets and at least 10,000 stores on the footpath to close yesterday as the firefighters were battling the blaze.
Some stores of the nearby markets chose to open by yesterday evening. However, the flow of visitors was reported to be rather low.
Aminul Islam, the owner of a shop in New Market, told The Business Standard that due to the fire in the adjacent market, the smoke spread to their market.
"As per the decision of our association, we kept the shops closed," he said, adding that at this time of the Eid season, their shop sells about Tk80,000 worth of clothes every day.
Mohammad Jewel Rana, one of traders of the New Super Market, owns 10 shops there.
He also failed to save any of his products due to the high heat from the fire.
Breaking down in tears, he said, "I lost at least Tk2 crore worth of products in the fire."
Traders said the damages dealt by the fire just a few days before Eid would weigh heavy on them.
The Bangladesh Shop Owner Welfare Association claimed that around 1200 shops were damaged in the fire in the capital's New Market while a few hundreds of the shops were completely burnt down, and the total loss was about Tk400 crore.
Fire-led closure of nearby markets caused Tk50 crore loss
Keeping in mind the security risk, the adjacent New Market was kept closed till further notice.
Aminul Islam, former president of the traders' association, said that the decision was taken for the sake of security.
Meanwhile, some of the markets on the east side of the New Market road opened in the afternoon, but all the markets on the west side were closed.
According to the traders, at least Tk50 crores were lost because of yesterday's closure of the entire market area due to the fire.
There are 1,275 shops in New Super Market, 400 in New Market, 1,500 shops in Chadni Chowk, 2,000 shops in Gausia, 400 in Chandrima, 400 in Banalata, 600 in Badruddoja Market, 800 in Noorjahan Market and 500 shops in Dhanmondi Hawkers Market.
Besides, there are about 700 grocery stores in the market and traders say some 10,000 shops along the sidewalks in the entire area.
After incurring losses for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, traders have been trying to make up for it, which again turned difficult due to clashes with the Dhaka College students over a trivial incident last year.
Yesterday's fire, just a handful of days before Eid, dealt them yet another blow to their hopes of recovering from the losses of recent years and cashing in on the biggest selling season of the year.
