Fruit seller, Shariful Islam, is yet to repay the loan, that he took to rebuild one of his shop in 2017, after a devastating fire burned down three of his shops, at the Gulshan DNCC Market.
Now, another sudden fire, which also broke out at the dead of night, has gutted his shops again. Shariful, is at a loss, he cannot see any future ahead for himself. There is no telling, whether he will be able to put together the money, to reconstruct the shops once again.
The fire broke out before dawn on Saturday, in the popular market, in the heart of Dhaka north, gutting 291 stores.
Shariful, owner of Maa Fruits Store, already has Tk30 lakh in loans, and the fire on Saturday, caused an accumulated loss, of about Tk6 lakh, as valuables including refrigerators and other furniture were reduced to ash.
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With tears in his eye, the 32-year-old businessman, sat in front of the ashes. He said, in his 20 years at the city corporation market, the number of his shops has come down to one from three, because of the previos fire.
“I lost, at least Tk20 lakh, in the 2017 fire, and took loans to reconstruct one shop, which I am still paying today. All of my capital has been destroyed. I do not know how I will continue doing business,” Shariful told this reporter.
Banks do not want to issue loans to small traders, and Shariful had to manage three loans from several cooperatives and family members.
Shariful said, after the first fire, the government promised to help the traders in the market, but nothing happened afterwards.
