No progress has been made in relocating hazardous chemical businesses and warehouses from the old part of the capital city of Dhaka.

 The inordinate delay in shifting the chemical businesses has left the residents in constant fear following the several devastating fire incidents which claimed over    200 lives and caused injuries to many others.

The chemical-induced Nimtoli inferno in June 2010 claimed 126 lives, prompted the government to embark on four projects as part of the relocation plan. Meanwhile, 78 other people died in another similar incident at Churihatta near Chawkbazar in February last year.

Ten years have elapsed after the tragedy, but the projects, taken up at different times, are still either in hibernation or at the preliminary stage.

According to the latest update, land was either being acquired or filled in one or two projects, while the others face further uncertainty due to a dearth of fund allocation.

The only ‘considerable progress’ over the years has been made at one front -- constant revision of the primary project proposals --  which contributed to cost escalation and time extension.

The cost of the four projects, which was around Tk 686 crore at the beginning, has now increased to around Tk 2,667 crore, according to documents.

According to sources, about a year after the Nimtoli fire, the government had decided to set up two temporary warehouses to immediately shift hazardous chemical warehouses from the old part of the city. But the temporary projects -- one in Tongi and the other in Shaympur -- are still in the "work in progress" state.

A cabinet meeting on February 25, 2019, decided to cancel all licences for preserving and storing chemical and petroleum products in residential areas. The cabinet also restricted issuing any new licence in this regard and directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to relocate this kind of godowns promptly.

Accordingly, Dhaka South City Corporation stopped issuing new licences or renewing the old ones for any chemical shops or warehouses in Old Dhaka. But chemical businesses in the old part of the city remained as it was before.

Although the traders claimed that they had relocated their warehouses to ‘safe locations’, they said they were unable to move their entire businesses elsewhere unless the government relocated them according to an MoU signed in 2017.

But a drive by Rab on August 17 at a warehouse inside a residential building in Tikatuli only justified experts' fear that chemical godowns that had previously been localised to a particular pocket in the old part of the city have now grown covering a bigger area.

"We found huge amount of explosive chemicals which might cause a devastating fire anytime," said Rab Executive Magistrate Polash Kumar Bashu, who led the drive.

He said there might be many warehouses in Dhaka like this one and that they were collecting information about them.

During a recent visit to some areas, including Mitford Road, Nimtoli, Chawkbazar, Armanitola, Babu Bazar, Islampur, Mahuthtuly and Chhurihatta last week, it has been found that many chemical shops were being run and many buildings are being used as chemical warehouses.

Md Ripon, who lost six of his family members in the Nimtoli tragedy, said they do not allow any warehouse in their area, but there are chemical warehouses nearby.

Selim, who runs a shop on Abul Hasnat Road, said there are many residential houses in the area where chemical products are stored and that those might cause a devastating fire.

Arif Hossain, general secretary of Bangladesh Chemical and Perfumery Merchants' Association, said, "We will leave the area after getting a plot from the government. Otherwise, it is not possible for us to leave."

He said there are around 2,000 shops in Old Dhaka which are doing chemical business.

Arif claimed that every chemical item is not explosive or flammable and those who are doing the business in the flammable items have arranged separate warehouses outside Dhaka.

He, however, did not deny that some traders might be secretly running warehouses in the old part of the city despite strict instructions from their organisation against it.

He urged the government to quickly implement the relocation plan in line with the MoU signed between BSCIC and the three organisations -- Bangladesh Chemical and Perfumery Merchants' Association, Bangladesh Chemical Importers and Merchants' Association, and Bangladesh Acid Merchants' Association -- in 2017.

He said, "Apart from this, an initiative has been taken to build 54 warehouses on 6.17 acres of land of 'Ujala Match Factory' at Shyampur in Kadamtali of Dhaka district to store chemicals in old Dhaka. Work orders have already been issued to the manufacturer.

“But the Armed Forces Department said that if  chemical wa