The fire traps of Dhanmondi Sat Masjid Road?

The Sat Masjid Road in the capital starts, on both ends, with restaurants. 

It is named after the Sat Gambuj Mosque, one of the aesthetic Mughal-era mosques of Bangladesh located near the Mohammadpur end. 

With new dividers, a number of trees, and a wide area, the road – which stretches around 2km from the end of Road-27 till Shimanto Square – is one of the major networks for vehicles. 

The area is also full of buildings housing a number of the top restaurants in Bangladesh.

With the fire incident of 29 February in Bailey Road – which left 46 people dead – fresh in everyone's mind, the stretch of Sat Masjid road and its restaurants have all come under the magnifying glass.

That night the Bailey Road building, Green Cozy Cottage, home to eight restaurants along with a juice bar and a tea coffee shop, was teeming with life when the fire broke out. The lack of proper safety measures and a fire escape resulted in a death toll which garnered international attention. 

Is the situation any different in Dhanmondi?

Soon after the Bailey Road fire, Architect Mustapha Khalid Palash shared a status on Facebook on 1 March about a building he designed in Dhanmondi named Gawsia Twin Peak.

He said the building had been changed into a commercial one for restaurants. 

Even after warning the landowner and developer of the need to have the correct papers for such a change, he alleged that not much was done.

According to him, the situation is alarming. Fire exit doors have been blocked off and gas cylinders are kept in unsafe places. 

The social media generated a storm of criticism.

The Business Standard went to the building Gawsia Twin Peak to gather more information. 

At first impression, one thing became clear: Mum's the word.

Into the storm

Entering the building, the building manager was directly approached. 

He, however, refused to comment officially on the matter. 

Undeterred, the journey through the stairs continued.

After a while, Md Muketun Nur Nahid, a senior executive of Luminedge, a student consultancy and an authorised exam centre of the British Council, was found. 

His centre was located on the 12th floor of the building. 

What he had to say was damning.

"We have been running the business since 2022 here; the fire exit of this building is not properly functional. There's no fire sprinkler on any floor, but there is one centrally."

The issues didn't end there. 

"There are many barriers to fire exit stairs; restaurants throw their rubbish on the stairs, and some third-party event management put their goods on the fire exit stairs," he said.

"On average, 1,000 to 1,500 people come to this building every day; we need to be more safe," he said.

As an authorised British Council exam centre, Nahid said some safety protocols were mandated for them.

"When the British Coucil venue inspection team came, they warned us. They also know it's not in our hands if the building authority doesn't take any steps." He added.

"The building authority doesn't know teamwork, and they are not cooperative. So we do our cleaning and the whole building's cleaning every other day. We are not supposed to clean the whole building, but we do for our safety."

Once the furore broke in social media, Nahid said the authorities were forced into action.

"After voices were raised in social media, they cleaned the fire exit stairs today. But I know it will return to the same condition again after a while. I warned them multiple times, but they don't listen."

He said they might be safe now, but "we are not feeling safe in the long run."

This building, however, was just one of around five such structures housing numerous restaurants. Was Gawsia Twin Peak the anomaly? 

Or was it the rule?

Buildings turned to tinder

After the visit to Gawsia Twin Peak, the next stop was the KB Square.

The building was no stranger to fire, building manager Aktheruzzaman, said. 

"About 8-10 years ago, a fire incident happened in this building, and after that, we are very conscious, and we try our level best to ensure fire security."

The level of security, however, wasn't on full display. 

This correspondent spotted a number of gas cylinders outside the fire exits at KB Square.
The next stop was the G.H. Heights building. 

Building manager Kapil Biswas said, "We have fire security."

During a short walk through the building, however, things appeared different. 

A number of objects were littered on the stairs meant for fire exit. A lot of it would turn to kindling in case a fire broke out, aside from functioning as obstacles to those looking to escape.

The last stop was the Keari Crescent Tower perched right in Jigatola, hugging the Sat Masjid Road.

The building manager wasn't present at the time. When the guards were asked about the fire exit, they said they did not know. 

After walking through the building, one exit was found, but there was no proper signage and it was far from the main staircase.

More shockingly, not a single fire hose system or fire extinguishers could be seen. 

On the fire exit stars on level 3, more gas cylinders were found to have been stored.

Based on the data provided by the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defense spanning from 2015 to 2022, a total of 162,943 fire accidents have been recorded. 

These incidents resulted in 937 fatalities and 3,214 injuries. 

Furthermore, the collective financial loss attributed to these fire incidents amounts to Tk2,878.38 crore.

For now, Bailey Road, once so full of life, has gone silent. The merry-makers have chosen to stay away. 

Will such a silence also befall Dhanmondi's Sat Masjid road? Or will the authorities learn from the latest disaster, wounds from which are still fresh and bleeding.