Relocation of Karwan Bazar wholesale market

THE fire that gutted over 200 wholesale shops, mostly of spices in a two storied tin shed market at city center in Karwan Bazar on Sunday evening left the traders and workers totally devastated. The entire market has been burnt into ashes with stocks worth over crores of taka as people looked on and tried to doze it. The fire spread quickly to burn as many shops just immediately after a nor’wester hit the city bringing relief to people from heat waves.  It is indeed sad that traders have lost their entire stocks gutted and their cash that were held in lockers because of May Day bank holiday also burnt into ashes. Indeed the inferno could burn more shops holding rice stocks, dry fish and other stationery items in other sections of the market separated by an open space. But the Fire Service, which initially took some time to reach the spot, mobilized a huge fire-fighting machine and succeeded to contain it. They deserve to be thanked.  It appears quite surprising why the fire broke out when a thunder storm and a spell of shower had just visited the area and the entire city. It was an unusual situation and particularly not supposed to see a devastating fire came to follow it. How the fire originated remains the big question. Is it a short circuit spark or act of some vested quarters waiting to take possession of the valuable land? The government has set up a four-member committee to investigate the matter and we hope it will be able to clear the matter and also make the report public. Meanwhile the traders now totally destroyed need the government support in terms of loans or grants to start their business again. It is a business issue that needs to be dealt with accordingly. The month of Ramzan is not far away when the city dwellers want to see supply of essentials uninterrupted at stable prices. So the rehabilitation of traders needs to be handled on urgent basis. We would also call on the traders to be honest and humane to keep the prices of essentials at reasonable level without going for a surge in commodity prices during Ramzan to recover the losses. The Mayors of the north and south cities while visiting the gutted market have also called upon the traders to relocate their businesses at Jatrabari or Gabtoli city wholesale markets. These markets are ready with shops for allocation and we believe that Karwan Bazar traders must take advantage of it. It is important because Karwan Bazar wholesale market is not only keeping the area dirty at a prime location in the city center, it also makes the roads around almost immovable at day time and at night when hundreds of trucks unload their commodities in open air.