Despite frequent reminders, it is as though the country has chosen to continue the avoidable sleepwalk, dragging itself in the irreversible path of abysmal oblivion. The Chawkbazar fire has been the latest of those reminders, and yet again, has exposed our unfortunate social protection, inadequate preparedness, and dilapidated infrastructure. The Chawkbazar incident is almost a repeat of the 2010 Nimtoli inferno, where more than 100 innocent people died. The onus is on everyone’s shoulder to ensure that we do not go back and start sleepwalking again, and assuming the problem does not exist. God forbid, it could be any of us or our family members who are the next victims of our collective ignorance.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 23, 2019 18:00 UTC