The privately-owned BM Container Depot in Chittagong, which witnessed a devastating fire incident recently, has allegedly been operating without proper authorisation and certification required for storing and handling hazardous chemicals.
This was, reportedly, found by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) study, which also, reportedly, added the fire fighting system of the privately-owned Inland Container Depot (ICD) was incapable of tackling chemical fires.
The CPD study conducted in the aftermath of the deadly fire and blast at the ICD, reportedly, found alarming weaknesses in industrial safety, not limited to this particular ICD only, even if the study underlined the depot authority obtained an “orange category” licence, which is for handling containers and export-oriented goods like apparels and food items but did not obtain a “red-category” licence from the DIFE (Department of Environment or the Bangladesh Fire Service) and Civil Defence, which is a prerequisite for storing chemicals.