The government appears to be doing very little to meet the deadline for shifting the warehouses of inflammable and risky chemicals from Old Dhaka as no step has so far been taken to monitor the progress of relocating the stores scheduled to be completed by September 30.
The industries ministry, which is looking into the matter, is yet to issue any directive to the taskforce formed for ensuring the relocation of the risky chemical warehouses away from the residential areas.
The decision to monitor the relocation process by the taskforce was taken more than a month ago on August 17 to check recurrence of incidents like June 3 Nimtali fire that claimed some 124 lives in Old Dhaka.
Industries minister Dilip Barua at a meeting with the traders extended the deadline to September 30 and said that the taskforce along with business representatives would monitor from September 20 to 30 whether the risky chemical warehouses are being shifted and fire safety measures taken.
On the plea of having no written directive from the ministry, the taskforce has limited its activities including reviewing the list of chemical traders and the existing laws and rules for dealing in chemical substances.
The head of the taskforce, Mohammed Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, said, ‘We have known about the decision of monitoring the relocation process from the newspaper, but the industries ministry has not given any instruction on this.’
When asked about initiating the drive to monitor, he said, ‘We can’t go for any action without a directive from the concerned authorities.’
Meanwhile, industries ministry additional secretary ABM Khorshed Alam said, ‘I had asked for issuing the letter in this regard before going on leave on September 6. I don’t know why the letter has not yet been sent to the taskforce.’
The rights and environmental activists are disappointed at the lukewarm attitude of the authorities in ensuring the relocation of the chemical warehouses.
‘The government becomes very active immediately after a major disaster but the seriousness soon fizzles out,’ said Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon general secretary Mohammad Abdul Matin.
‘If the government was serious and responsible to the people, the relocation of the chemical factories and warehouses would have been done already,’ he said.
He said the government should not let the people’s sentiment die down rather use it to initiate a meaningful and ‘visible’ process of relocating the chemical warehouses with a long-term planning.
