A terrible fire broke out in a garage in the capital’s Khilgaon Taltala area yesterday. About 17 to 18 garages were burnt to ashes. The affected garage owners’ association claims that about 40 to 50 crore taka of damage has been caused in the fire. At the same time, traders are looking at the terrible fire in the garage on a closed day with suspicion.
Traders claim that about 6 months ago, Friday (February 21) was the picnic day of the garage owners’ association across the country. On that day, the owners and workers of every garage were at a picnic in Gazipur. They are looking at the fire with suspicion as no one was in the garage and the fire is coming from all sides.
It was seen on the spot that various types of burnt cars were lying around. Burnt tin and various parts of the shop are piled up in places. In addition, a sawmill located nearby and some wood stored there was burnt in the fire.
In this regard, Md. Masum, president of the Bangladesh Automobile Owners Association of Khilgaon, Shajahanpur, Sabujbagh, Mugda and Rampura regions and owner of Masum Auto Workshop, said, “We planned our picnic six months ago. Starting from collecting donations, all the arrangements were made about three months ago. Then, all the workshop owners associations of this market and all over the country, yesterday (Friday) we all went on a picnic. No one was here. No one was working, every workshop was closed. We took our cars from here in the morning and went on a picnic. Around 7 pm, we got the news that the garage was on fire. Later, everyone left from there quickly. When we came, we found everything burnt to ashes, we found nothing.”
He said, “We have been doing business here for 20 years. Our market is closed at different times. But then someone used to live here. There was no problem on any day. But yesterday, when no one was there, the fire broke out.”
Md. Masum said, “First, the fire broke out on one side. But the fire turned from one side to the other and became like an L (L shape), it seems surprising to us. It burned down to ashes in a short time. We think that even if a fire breaks out, it shouldn’t have broken out like this. Our goods have burned, there has been damage, we will have doubts.’
Md. Munna, another garage owner, said, ‘As many garage owners in Bangladesh as there are, we had an annual picnic yesterday. Garage owners from all over the country came to the Gazipur picnic. Tomorrow is a Friday holiday, and again on February 21, we had a picnic. That’s why all the owners were in Gazipur. When we got the news, we immediately left within 30 minutes. When we arrived, we found out that everything was over.’
He said, ‘When we returned, we talked to those who were there and found out that the fire had broken out in a corner. Two units of the fire service came and controlled the fire first. But no one understood that the fire would flare up like this again later. The first two units of the fire service that arrived had also run out of water. Later, many more units arrived and while controlling the fire, everything was burnt to ashes.
Munna said, “There were five cars in our garage. There was a Parado car, two X-Corollas, a Nova car and a pickup. We estimate that the total damage to all the cars and parts in all the garages here is 40 to 50 crore taka. My garage alone has suffered more than 2 crore taka. These cars are not ours. These are our customers’ cars. We brought them here for servicing. Besides, our company had modern equipment, all the equipment was burnt to ashes. What will we answer those whose cars we brought for servicing?”
He also said, “We have suffered a lot of damage. We can imagine a lot. But this is the responsibility of the administration. They should investigate and find out how the fire started. I have suffered damage, I can blame that. Now the rest is the responsibility of the administration. Since everyone knows six months in advance that none of the owners will be there on this day. There was a planned picnic. Therefore, we can have a suspicion, now it is the responsibility of the administration to investigate and find out the cause of the fire.’
Motijheel Regional Police Station Bangladesh Automobile Owners Association President Md. Mujibur Rahman told Jago News, ‘So far we have not been able to find out where the fire is happening. From what we saw, the way this workshop village has been burnt to ashes, all the garages together, about 17 cars have been burnt to ashes. After that, the equipment that was in each workshop, some re-conditioned engines that were also bought, have all been burnt. All the workshop owners have sat on the road. Each garage buys reconditioned spare parts worth 25 to 30 lakh taka. Those are also all gone. The government’s attention has been drawn to the fact that the workshop owners have been affected.I am doing it. If the government is not on the side of these helpless people, they will not be able to stand up in life.’
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