The government has formed a new committee to investigate the fire incident at a building of the Bangladesh Secretariat.
At the same time, the seven-member committee that was constituted earlier in the day has been scrapped, said a Cabinet Division directive this evening (26 December).
The new eight-member committee is now headed by Nasimul Ghani, senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Cabinet Division initially announced a seven-member investigation committee led by Additional Secretary Mohammad Khaled Rahim at around 3:30pm. However, this committee was scrapped around 7:30pm, and a revised committee was formed through a new order.
The newly formed committee includes the Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam, Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works Md Hamidur Rahman Khan, Professor Tanvir Manjur from the Urban Strategy Department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka Cantonment Commandant CMTD Brigadier General Mahbubur Russell, Associate Professor Md Yasir Arafat Khan from the Chemical Engineering Department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Associate Professor Yasir Arafat from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at the same university, and the Director General of the Directorate of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
The committee is tasked with investigating the fire, assessing responsibility, and recommending measures to prevent future incidents and improve secretariat security.
The committee is expected to submit a preliminary report by 30 December, with the full report due within the next 10 working days.
The committee may co-opt additional members, said the Cabinet Division.
The fire at the secretariat broke out at 1:52am. It took 19 firefighting units around six hours to bring the flames under control and 10 hours to completely douse them.
A firefighter from Tejgaon fire station was killed in the line of duty when he was run over by a truck on the road in front of the Osmani Memorial Auditorium, located on the opposite side of the secretariat.
Md Shoyanur Jaman Noyon, 24, was crossing the road to connect the water pipe with the pump when a truck hit him. Noyon was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where on-duty doctors declared him dead on arrival.
TBS
