Dreams shatter for 12 traders in Chandpur as shops burn in early morning fire

At least four units of firefighters from Chandpur and Faridganj brought the fire under control after working for half an hour

Goni Miji had previously lost his tea stall to a fire. Undeterred, he took out a loan and opened a new tea stall at Baghra Bazar in Chandpur, hoping to return to regular business and repay his debt soon. Wahid Mia, whose decorating business stood next to Goni’s tea stall, had bought some new furniture to expand his business.

But those dreams, like those of the owners of 10 other shops at the market near the Chandpur-Raipur highway in Bagadi Union, were set ablaze around 3am on Wednesday.

Dawn saw the traders sifting through the debris around 6am. But it was all gone, burnt to ash.

“I have nothing left,” Goni cried. “My tea stall burned in a fire in this market eight months ago. I took out a loan from my sisters and opened another one.”

“Now it’s over. How will I provide for my family of seven? How will I repay the loan?”

Nazrul Islam, a trader in rods and cement, said he got a call from fellow trader Nannu Tarafder around 3am saying all the shops at the market were on fire. By the time Nazrul reached the market, the Fire Service and Civil Defence had begun to douse the blaze.

Nazrul claimed he incurred losses of Tk 1.4 million when including the price of the products in his shop.

Locals said the fire broke out between 2:30am to 2:45am, but they could not tell how it started.

Since the market was adjacent to the road, people noticed the fire as soon as it sparked. The Faridganj and Chandpur Fire Service were quick to arrive at the scene. Policemen from Chandpur Sadar Model Police Station rushed there too.

Many businesses - Alamgir’s rickshaw van garage shop, Md Mosa’s motorcycle repair shop, Hasan’s cycle shop, Goni Miji’s tea stall, Somun Mia’s food stall, rod and cement shops owned by Barek Gazi, Momin Mia and Nazrul Islam, Nannu Bahardar’s fuel shop, Wahid Mia’s decorator shop, Mansur Member’s rod and cement shop, and Rabindra Karmakar’s ironsmith shop.

“We were informed about the fire at 3am and started working to douse the flames at 3:10 am,” said Syed Mohammed Morshed Hossain, deputy director of the Chandpur Fire Service and Civil Defence.

“Two of our units and two from Faridganj started to work together and brought the fire under control at 3:40am after half an hour. We left the scene at 5am,” he said.

He also said that 12 businesses in the market were burnt but no one was injured or killed. He could not identify the cause of the fire.

“We can provide more information following an investigation.”