8 Titas Gas staffers suspended over N'ganj mosque blast

A total of eight employees of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Co Ltd, have been suspended over the suspected gas pipeline explosion at a Narayanganj mosque.

Titas General Manager (administration) Munir Hossain Khan confirmed the matter to FT Team on Monday.

Among the suspended employees; one is a general manager and four are engineers. All of them are associated with the gas company’s Fatullah office.

The suspended Titas employees are Manager (Fatullah Titas office) Md Sirajul Islam, Deputy Manager Mahbudur Rahman Rabbi, Assistant Engineer SM Hasan Shahriar, Assistant Engineer Manik Miah, Senior Supervisor Md Munibur Rahman Chowdhury, Senior Developer Md Ayub Ali, Assistant Hanif Miah and staff member Islmail Pradhan. 

Sources at Titas said that the suspended staffers had been charged with negligence, which led to the blast on Friday night.  

They were also served with show cause notices. 

However, the deadline for responding to the show cause notices could not be ascertained.

Titas in the suspension letters said that the Narayanganj mosque blast incident -- which caused multiple fatalities and left scores injured -- has tarnished its image. 

The letter also blamed the eight Titas employees for the blast, saying it all happened due to their negligence in duty. 

Expressing concern over the horrific incident, Minister of State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said: “The officials concerned at Titas’s Fatullah office did not perform their duties properly. They need to be brought to justice.”

He was speaking at a virtual meeting with the authorities of all the gas distribution companies in the country on Monday. 

Meanwhile, two leaks were found on a gas pipeline in the northern side of the mosque as a result of digging at and around the accident site on Monday in an effort to unearth the actual reason for the blast.

Till Monday night, at least 27 people, who suffered severe burn injuries in the air conditioner explosion during prayers at Baitus Salah Jame Mosque in Fatullah, Narayanganj, on Friday night, died at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Dozens of people were also injured in the blast and were undergoing treatment at the burn institute. 

Meanwhile, three separate probe bodies have been formed to investigate the explosion.