Deputy Police Commissioner removed after Secretariat fire

Deputy Police Commissioner Md Tanvir Ahmed, who was in charge of the security division at the Secretariat, has been removed from his position following the devastating fire at Secretariat Building 7.

He has been reassigned as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Public Order Management (POM) South Division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) through an order issued by DMP Commissioner Sheikh Md Sajjat Ali on December 29.

Mohammad Billal Hossain has been appointed as the new DC responsible for Secretariat security.

The fire incident claimed the life of firefighter Swanur Zaman Nayan, who was struck by a truck in the early hours of December 26 while attempting to extinguish the blaze. Allegations have surfaced that Nayan’s death occurred because police failed to block the road in front of the Secretariat during the fire. Four days after the incident, DC Tanvir Ahmed was removed from his post.

The fire broke out shortly before 2:00 am in Building 7 of the Secretariat. It took 19 fire service units around 10 hours to bring the blaze under control.

According to the fire service, the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th floors of the building were damaged, with the 8th and 9th floors sustaining the most destruction. Most of the documents on those floors were completely burnt.

The building housed several important offices, including the Ministry of Finance (with the Finance Division and the Financial Institutions Division); the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (including the Road Transport and Highways Division); the Ministry of Labour and Employment; the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Co-operatives (with its Local Government Division and Rural Development and Co-operative Division); the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology (including its Postal and Telecommunications Division); and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

In the aftermath of the fire, the Cabinet Division issued an order on Thursday night forming an eight-member investigation committee. The committee is headed by the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, with the Director General of the Fire Service and Civil Defence serving as its member secretary.

Other committee members include: the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Professor Tanvir Manzur of the Civil Engineering Department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Brigadier General Mahbubur Russell and Associate Professor Md. Yasir Arafat Khan of BUET’s Chemical Engineering Department.