Opposition lawmakers call for punishment of BM depot owner for irregularities

A section of the opposition lawmakers demanded punitive action against the BM container depot owner for storing chemicals like hydrogen peroxide without proper infrastructure and for not informing the fire service people regarding the chemicals which caused the explosions.  

BNP lawmaker Barrister Rumeen Farhana made the demand while participating in the point-of-order at the parliament session on Monday.   

Terming the Sitakunda inferno as killing and not an accident, she said that the explosives department was unaware of the flammable chemicals stored at the depot. Preservation of this type of chemical requires a special type of infrastructure which was absent there.  

Rumeen further alleged that so many lives are lost due to the sheer negligence of the depot owner as he has constructed the depot without approval and stored chemicals without legal permission. The container depot authorities even did not inform the firefighters who went there for dousing the fire regarding the stored chemicals.  

"The owner had the power to commit all these irregularities as the managing director of the company Mujibur Rahman is the treasurer of Chattogram metropolitan (South) Awami League. He did not feel any necessity to abide by the rules being in such a position," she said.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Abu Hossain Babla said that the government must investigate the incident to find out whether it was an accident or an act of sabotage although no probe ever sees the light.  

He questioned the relevant government department as to how chemicals could be stored at a depot in a populated area. He also asked why modern fire fighting equipment could not be procured despite a budget outlay of Tk6 lakh crore placed by the government.