THE government’s continued failure in maintaining fire safety standards in workplaces has resulted in another fire in Chattogram. At least six people died and 30 others became injured in an explosion in Sheema Oxygen Plant, an industrial oxygen refilling plant at Sitakunda, on March 4. The impact of the explosion, as witnesses and survivors say, was so intense that it killed people who sat at least 500 metres off the plant. While authorities could not establish what caused the explosion, witnesses believe the explosion to have occurred during the refuelling of a gas cylinder. The district administration has formed a committee to investigate the incident which is expected to submit the report in five working days. The death in Sitakunda and the business-as-usual response of the authorities, which is setting out the investigation and dishing out a cash lump sum for funerals, is a sign that the government is not sincere enough about protecting life.

In June 2022, at least 51 people, including 10 firefighters, died and more than 200 became injured in an explosion at the BM Container Depot at Sitakunda, half a kilometre off the place of the March 4 explosion, when the response of the government was similar. In a routine response, the government formed investigation committees, but the recommendations in the report were apparently not implemented. The committee, formed by the Chattogram divisional commissioner’s office, that time said that the sheer negligence of owners of the container depot and lax oversight and enforcement by government authorities had led to the explosion. The report also recommended a regular inspection of such plants by designated authorities. It is, however, not known to what extent the 20 recommendations were implemented. The case filed in connection with the container depot explosion blamed critically injured workers of the depot, but the owners were spared. Eminent citizens that time said that the owners were not made legally liable for their criminal negligence because of their political influence. They are not wrong in their claim as one of the owners is a foreigner and others are variously linked with the ruling Awami League.