Gano Forum chief Dr Kamal Hossain, who leads the Jatiya Oikya Front coalition, slammed the government over the deaths in Old Dhaka fire.

“After the Nimtoli fire nine years ago, the High Court ordered the government to take steps to make the Old Dhaka safe for people. However, we never saw the government to take any step,” he said on Tuesday (Feb 26).

His comments came while addressing a civic condolence meeting organized by the Gano Forum at the National Press Club in memory of those killed in the Feb 20 fire at Old Dhaka’s.

The nation wants an answer why such a fire broke out killing so many innocent people, said Kamal.

“The High Court has once again ordered the government. There can’t be such aloofness … It’s the state and the government’s responsibility to ensure safety for its people.”

The death toll in the devastating and fast-moving fire at Chawkbazar, which reportedly erupted from a building storing chemicals, has hit 69 with at least seven others being treated in critical conditions.

In June 2010, more than 120 people were killed at Nimtoli, just half a kilometer away from Nimtoli, in a blazes sparked by electrical transformer blast. The presence of chemical warehouses worsened the fire.

The High Court then asked the government probe panel in a rule that that why they should not be directed to ensure safe and planned development of Old Dhaka and prevent the unauthorised warehouses and factories storing use of flammable chemicals and petroleum products.

Following the Chawkbazar fire, the court on Monday asked why the government’s inaction to implement the 17-point recommendations made by the Nimtoli fire probe body.

Secretaries to the cabinet division, law, home and industries ministries and the Dhaka South City Corporation have been ordered to respond by four weeks.