Visiting restaurants with family and beloved ones for eating, drinking, selfies, and chitchatting is now one of the most popular pastimes for people residing in the capital. Hence, restaurant businesses are expanding throughout the city.
But the problem is most of them having inadequate security measures.
On 29th February, a horrific fire in a restaurant on Bailey Road killed 46 people. Within nine months of the tragedy, another restaurant in capital’s Uttara named Love Leen Bangla caught fire on 20th December, leaving several injured.
Experts labels 99 percent of capital’s restaurants as “Valley of Death” as they don’t have proper security systems.
According to Fire Service authority, the Love Leen restaurant was operated its business with no fire safety plans. The authority had issued notice marking the building risky.
However, during the recent fire incident in the restaurant that was located on the ground floor of six-story building, the Fire Service rescued seven fire-trapped people.
Later, the Fire Service authority said they believe that the building set ablaze from gas leakage.
Although it was a residential building, various business establishment, including restaurants, were functional there.
Experts told Bangladesh Pratidin that it became a trend to build restaurants in multi-story buildings in Dhaka. But the only staircase in the buildings where most of these restaurants are located is not fire grade.
“The buildings that are suffering from fire accidents were built before the 2008 policy,” experts added. They also recommend bringing old building up to fire standards.
Many restaurants are being set in old buildings, while many have turned commercial buildings into restaurants. These have no alternative stairs for emergency exit during fire incidents or in case of emergencies.
“On the other hand, the elevators that do exist are small and the stairs are also quite narrow,” they said, adding: “It is unfortunate that the inspection came to a standstill that started after the Bailey Road incident.”
They said: “Foreign buyers in the ready-made garments have forced factory owners in the country to bring their factories up to fire standards.”
Architect Mustapha Khalid Palash on Monday told Bangladesh Pratidin that many restaurants in Dhaka are now running on CNG [Compressed Natural Gas] gas which is a highly flammable substance.
He said: “Fire safety standard was overlooked while constructing city’s buildings. Although they were mentioned in the design, they were not implemented.” He recommended for a third party inspection for ensuring fire safety in these buildings.
He said the way the accord-alliances fixed garments factories, the safety of the country’s restaurants must be ensured.
He fears of corruption, if the third party who will be looking into the matter. That’s why he recommends globally renowned companies for the inspection process.
Fire Service and Civil Defence department director Brig Gen Muhammad Jahed Kamal on Monday said: “Our fire inspectors often visit restaurants and issues notices if they lack the fire safety standards.”
In 2024, some 2,038 restaurants were inspected nationwide, he informed, adding: “Of these, which have safety issues have been informed to take necessary moves.”
He said that after the Bailey Road incident, they identified risky restaurants in the city, issued notices, and the Uttara restaurant was on the list.
He said: “We have already taken measures to operate mobile courts. Since we do not have our own magistrate, we are operating mobile courts with magistrates from the administration.”
Bangladesh Restaurant Owners' Association Secretary General Md Imran Hasan told Bangladesh Pratidin that the organizations that are supposed to monitor whether the country’s restaurants are being operated in accordance with the law are indifferent to this matter.
“We have been demanding for a long time that we want to run our organization on the model of the BGMEA,” he added.
Imran is optimistic that they will be able to monitor restaurants if there is any organization for that.
Translated by Afsar Munna
