Traders blame Dhaka South for New Super Market fire
Several traders of the capital's New Super Market (near Dhaka College) have blamed Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) for setting the market on fire.
The devastating fire has partially destroyed the three-storey building housing 1,275 shops. Among which, over 500 were completely burned.
The traders claimed that the fire broke out from an electricity line in the area where city corporation workers were working to demolish the bridge.
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According to trader Md Bulbul, DSCC officials began evicting illegal shops near the at around 4am on Saturday (15 April).
"After evicting the shops, they started using an excavator to break the stairs of the adjacent foot over-bridge. At one point, they heard a rumbling sound and saw fire inside the market.
"They immediately stopped their work and left the area in a hurry," he added while speaking with The Business Standard.
Jewel Ahmed, an owner of a roadside shop near the New Super Market, said he rushed to the spot after hearing the news eviction drive.
"While I was moving the goods from my broken shop at around 5:30am, I saw fire coming out of the market.
"I heard a loud noise when DSCC men were working to pull down the foot-over bridge. Shortly afterwards, a massive fire broke out inside the market," he added.
Another Businessmen Md Mansur said, "DSCC officials came to work sneakily in the dead of night. This is expropriation.
"They couldn't find time to bring down the bridge all year round except for now, during Ramadan."
"Fire breaks out everywhere the mayor sets his eyes," quipped one trader, wishing not to be named.
"They [DSCC] started the fire while demolishing the bridge and now have left businessmen like us to suffer," he added.
When contacted, DSCC Chief Estate Officer Md Russell Sabrin told The Business Standard that the origin of the fire was 300 meters away from the location where city corporation men were working.
"Why the city corporation would want to damage the market," he wondered while adding, "The city corporation people went to demolish the two ends of a foot over-bridge this morning which is about 300 meters away from the accident spot."
He further added, "Last year, we put a banner calling the foot over-bridge risky and blocked the way. Today's work was part of our pre-scheduled initiative to demolish the bridge connecting markets on both sides of the road."
