Ensuring safety in all Bangladesh ICDs demanded

Business leaders and officials have emphasised ensuring safety compliance in all inland container depots of the country, saying that the catastrophic fire incident in BM Container Depot at Sitakunda in Chattogram is likely to have a negative impact on the nation’s export trade.

They have blamed negligence of the authorities for the fire incident as the basic rules and regulations were not followed in storing chemicals in the container depot.

Business leaders have urged the government to immediately look into the safety measures in all other container depots of the country.

National Board of Revenue officials have said that while the managements of the container depots are primarily responsible for employing adequate safety measures in their facilities the port authorities and the customs department are also responsible for monitoring the safety measures.

Experts have blamed the absence of a proper guideline on chemical management and the tendency of industry people to violate rules for the Sitakunda container depot inferno.

At least 43 people, including nine firefighters, perished as a fire in the depot on June 4 triggered a series of massive explosions, creating the inferno.

‘It is very unfortunate that readymade garments, machinery and chemicals were stored in the depot without maintaining any space between them. The negligence of the port authority was also responsible for the incident,’ Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Chambers of Industries, said on Tuesday.

He urged the port authorities to formulate a guideline for all the inland container depots on how to store products in a warehouse.

All the depots should be immediately made safety-compliant, otherwise global buyers would feel insecure to do business through the Chattogram port, he said.

‘I would request the government to take necessary measures so that all the depots are compelled to comply with all the relevant national and international guidelines on storage and shipment,’ Parvez added.

Without wasting time, the government should address the safety issues of container depots for the sake of the country’s export trade, he further said.

Former president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association Fazlul Hoque said that the fire incident in the container depot might taint the country’s image.

‘It is a fundamental rule that chemicals should be stored separately from other  goods in warehouses but BM Container Depot kept hydrogen peroxide and other goods in the same place without any distance between them,’ he said.

Fazlul Hoque observed that the customs, the port authority, the shipping companies and buyers all have to work together to ensure safety in all container depots.

The weakness of the BM Container Depot management has surfaced after the fire in the facility, which calls for immediately launching a safety monitoring drive for all other depots to ascertain the actual situation in those, he said.

Former director general of the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence Ali Ahmed Khan said that the lack of a proper policy and the tendency of businesspeople to violate rules made the container depot fire incident happen.

‘There are laws in the country but these are not implemented properly and industry people have been taking advantage of this negligence,’ he said.

Ali Ahmed said that no fire safety rules were maintained in BM Container Depot and the lack of coordination among the regulatory bodies surfaced through the incident.

He suggested preparing a regulatory framework for the off-dock management of chemicals.

‘And you have to vest some entity with the responsibility to prevent wrongdoings,’ Ali Ahmed added.

An NBR official said that private ICDs obtained licences after fulfilling some criteria, including having the fire safety licence and environmental clearance.

The fire incident has proved that the ICD did not comply with the provisions of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code in dealing with hydrogen peroxide, he said.

The NBR official said that the customs and port authorities, too, had responsibility with regards to the off-dock storage of the chemicals in the depot.

President of Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association Nurul Qayyum Khan urged the government to frame guidelines for the private container depots to ensure safety measures for the storage and handling of chemicals.

There are a total of 19 ICDs in the country and this is the first time an accident occurred in such a facility in Bangladesh, he noted.

The causalities in the BM Container Depot fire were high because of the negligence of the depot authorities as they were hiding the information of storing hydrogen peroxide in the depot.

Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that not only the factories, the ICDs should also be safety compliant for the sake of export trade.

The devastating fire incident in the container depot and the lack of safety measures would send a negative message about Bangladesh around the world, he said.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/172663/ensuring-safety-in-all-bangladesh-icds-demanded