{"id":4932,"date":"2025-11-26T22:51:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4932"},"modified":"2025-11-26T22:51:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:51:48","slug":"what-is-behind-the-korail-slum-blaze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4932","title":{"rendered":"What is behind the Korail slum blaze?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For the seventh time in a decade, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/bangladesh-slum-fire-leaves-thousands-homeless-2025-11-26\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">devastating fire<\/a> ripped through Korail\u2014Dhaka\u2019s largest slum built illegally on prime government land\u2014destroying over 1,500 shanties on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents, local leaders, and even former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina openly accuse powerful land-grab mafias, musclemen backed by politicians, and drug syndicates of deliberately setting these fires to terrorise and extort the poor, clear the land, and eventually hand it over to real estate tycoons and \u201cproject sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u09a6\u09cd\u09b0\u09c1\u09a4 \u09ac\u09be\u09dc\u099b\u09c7 \u0986\u0997\u09c1\u09a8\u09c7\u09b0 \u09ad\u09df\u09be\u09ac\u09b9\u09a4\u09be | Korail Slum | Fire Update | Channel24\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e2pROOnUO0M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Korail is not just a slum; it is a goldmine. Located between Banani, Gulshan, and Mohakhali, the land is owned by multiple state agencies (PWD, RAJUK, and the Ministry of Telecommunications). Yet for years it has been controlled block-by-block by rival gangs who collect monthly \u201cprotection rent\u201d ranging from Tk3,000 to Tk12,000 per room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drug peddling\u2014especially yaba and heroin\u2014is rampant and openly operated under the patronage of these groups. Every major fire in the past ten years has conveniently shifted \u201ccontrol\u201d of certain blocks from one gang to another, residents say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4929\">Sheikh Hasina calls locker break-in \u201cYunus\u2019 bank dacoity\u201d in explosive audio<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4926\">Awami League brands Yunus\u2019 jihadist regime a \u2018killer-fascist\u2019 menace<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4923\">Awami League declares non-stop protests till November 30<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sheikh Hasina, in her explosive audio message released Wednesday, directly accused the Yunus regime of masterminding Tuesday\u2019s blaze:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey have been carrying out fire-terrorism everywhere, and now they have set fire to the slums\u2026 Why did they burn Korail today? Because apparently a big project is coming there\u2026 That is why they are kicking the poor in the stomach\u2026 Not a single person could take out any of their belongings. Empty-handed, with nothing, they barely managed to save their lives. How many people burned to death\u2014that news has still not been released. This fire was completely orchestrated through conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She contrasted this brutality with her own government\u2019s policy: \u201cEvery slum I cleared till now, I gave every resident alternative accommodation\u2026 I had already given flats on rent to 300 Korail families at the same rate they were paying in the slum, and the rest were in process\u2026 Today, without any notice, they have thrown thousands onto the streets in this biting winter. There is no humanity at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u0995\u09dc\u09be\u0987\u09b2 \u09ac\u09b8\u09cd\u09a4\u09bf: \u0986\u0997\u09c1\u09a8 \u09a8\u09bf\u09ad\u09b2\u09c7\u0993 \u09a5\u09be\u09ae\u09c7\u09a8\u09bf \u0986\u09b9\u09be\u099c\u09be\u09b0\u09bf |  | Korail Slum Fire | Fire Incident | Somoy TV\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_aUO5hdrSFg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuesday\u2019s fire broke out at 5:22pm and engulfed more than 1,500 homes within minutes. Fire Service officials admitted their vehicles could not enter the narrow lanes and had to drag hoses from the distant lake. By the time the blaze was contained (with 21 units), almost everything was ash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This is the grim record of Korail in the last decade:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8211; December 4, 2016 \u2013 500 shanties gutted&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8211; January 2017 \u2013 another major fire&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8211; March 16, 2017 \u2013 over 1,000 homes destroyed&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8211; March 2018 \u2013 500 homes&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8211; March 24, 2024 \u2013 massive damage&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8211; December 18, 2024 \u2013 another huge fire&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8211; November 15, 2025 \u2013 1,500+ homes (latest)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Every single time, the same excuses are repeated: illegal gas cylinders, tangled electric wires, and narrow alleys. Every single time a committee is formed. Every single time, the report is buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents are blunt, one saying: \u201cThese fires are never accidents. When one gang wants to snatch a block from another, or when some politician or builder needs the land vacated fast, the slum is set on fire at night or in the evening. After the ashes cool, new \u2018owners\u2019 move in and start collecting rent again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4476\">M4 carbines looted from vault amid Dhaka airport\u2019s cargo village fire<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4339\">50 injured as fascist Yunus violently cracks down on Ebtedayi madrasa teachers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=698\">\u2018March to Secretariat\u2019 on Tuesday for removal of 44 listed secretaries<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A labourer named Shamim told reporters: \u201cWe pay rent, we pay electricity bill collectors, we pay the musclemen\u2014yet when fire comes, nobody saves us. After every fire, the same people come back stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just two weeks ago, BASIS president Russell T. Ahmed publicly stated that Korail land was earmarked for a hi-tech park, and the \u201cnon-political government\u201d now has the perfect chance to evict the slum-dwellers. After Tuesday\u2019s fire, that statement went viral again\u2014forcing the Chief Adviser\u2019s office to hurriedly deny any ongoing project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, drug trade continues unabated in the surviving sections of Korail. Residents say yaba and heroin are sold openly because the dealers are the same people who \u201cprotect\u201d different blocks and allegedly have links with certain political quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sheikh Hasina concluded her message with a chilling warning: \u201cThis fascist, murderous jihadi Yunus regime will keep burning the homes of the poor until the land is cleared for their cronies. This is how they are kicking the poor in the stomach to feed the greedy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As thousands huddle in the open on a freezing November night, Korail once again exposes the ugly nexus of land mafias, drug lords, musclemen, and their political godfathers\u2014a nexus that has turned prime government land into a battlefield where the poorest pay with their lives and livelihoods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the seventh time in a decade, a devastating fire ripped through Korail\u2014Dhaka\u2019s largest slum built illegally on prime government land\u2014destroying over 1,500 shanties on Tuesday evening. Residents, local leaders,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1207,84,42],"tags":[77,46,1241,50,54,1240,65,56,63,64],"class_list":["post-4932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-emergency","category-fact-check","category-politics","tag-awami-league","tag-bnp","tag-hi-tech-park","tag-interim-government","tag-jamaat-e-islami","tag-korail-slum","tag-mobocracy","tag-muhammad-yunus","tag-sheikh-hasina","tag-yunus-gang"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4936,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions\/4936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}