THE death of three people in a cylinder explosion at a restaurant in Keraniganj, as 抖阴精品 reported on October 6, is shocking. It is more so after a series of such events the latest of which, on February 29, left at least 46 dead as a cylinder explosion burnt an eight-storey building that housed mostly restaurants and eateries on Bayley Road in Dhaka. In the latest incident that took place in the evening on October 5, the restaurant at Ramer Kanda of Keraniganj went up in flames as a cylinder exploded. The deceased were all restaurant workers. The fire burnt several other shops and let several others wounded. Many became wounded as they jumped out to save life. The fire fighters, who could not immediately establish the extent of damage, said that two fire engines had put out the flames. The February fire on the Bayley Road, the latest that had made the headlines for days on end, initially served as a wake-up call, apparently feebly though, for the authorities concerned. Public agencies 鈥� Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, two city authorities of Dhaka, the fire service and civil defence department and the police 鈥� began drives in March and sealed off some buildings, but the drives petered out soon, without any sustainable solutions.
Cylinder explosions that have happened in the past show that there are a couple of reasons for such incidents. One major issue that has been longstanding is that there is inadequacy about regular inspection of the cylinders and the use of substandard cylinders. Both sellers and buyers keep re-using the cylinders beyond their shelf life, which only adds to the risks of explosion. Cylinders wear out and the accessories fitted to the cylinders may develop problems. The unchecked re-use of cylinders happens sometimes out of the need to save some money and some other times out of the effort to avoid hassles. Whilst the first case could well be a regulatory failure, the second case could imply that the process for the inspection of the cylinders is still cumbersome. The other major issue is using cylinders in places that are not designed for such use. The use of residential buildings as restaurants is a case in example. Residential buildings may not often have the design to ensure the use of cylinders that restaurants require. This also constitutes a regulatory failure, but involving a horde of agencies such as Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha in Dhaka or any other agencies that approve building designs and plans in outlying areas, local government authorities, the fire service and civil defence department and the police. A failure on part of any of the agencies could leave a hole wide open for disasters.
The government should, therefore, improve the protocol applied to the use of cylinders and their inspection. The government should also improve the fire safety enforcement protocol and ask its agencies to see whether it is properly adhered to. Death from cylinder explosion would, otherwise, disparagingly continue.
