"Punish those responsible for Bailey Road building fire"

“Ensure punishment of those responsible for Bailey Road fire”

Dhaka, Mar 3 - It will be possible to prevent the recurrence of fire incidents and deaths if punishment is ensured against the responsible persons including the institutions, individuals and building owners. 

Day after day of not taking action against those responsible has created a culture of impunity. Because of this, the fires keep happening.

Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Kamal Uddin Ahmed came up with the remarks while briefing reporters at the meeting room of the NHRC on Sunday.

The NHRC chairman said it is absolutely necessary to hold accountable the government departments responsible for ensuring the fire safety of a building. Besides, there must be a system of maximum penalty against officials and institutions who fail to fulfill such duties, he said.

Our law also has detailed provisions, but enforcement is not done properly.  This is what keeps the problem alive. Indifference, tendency to be managed and irresponsibility of government regulatory bodies are evident, the NHRC Chairman added.

He also said that though one after another fire incidents have occurred due to the irresponsibility of those involved, most of the cases have not been filed. Again, there are one or two cases, but there has no precedent for punishment. In most cases the culprits are identified but no action is taken against them.

“We have not learned the proper lessons from the incidents of major fires and explosions that have taken place in the past years. Incidents of fire are recurring due to lack of effective measures”, the NHRC chairman added.

There are a total of 22 fire laws. Appropriate action could be taken accordingly. Again, in many cases, it is seen that the relevant authorities provide licenses without proper monitoring. 

“All safety measures have to be strictly monitored and licensing must be made mandatory. On the other hand, after every fire, multiple agencies form inquiry committees. For a few days, the events were discussed and criticized. Investigation reports on major fire incidents are bogged down in formalities. Incidents continue as perpetrators are not punished and recommendations are not implemented,” the NHRC chairman said.

National Human Rights Commission said that it has closely monitored, analyzed and provided recommendations from the perspective of human rights in recent fire and explosion incidents. Implementation of the recommendations made by the commission to prevent accidents would have prevented recurrence of accidents.-UNB