http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120521-347334.html
Hero has money woes after fire at his restaurant
Tweet
Mr Sirajul Islam gets a VIP visitor, DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam, after he and his wife were fined for safety violations.
By Hedy Khoo
The New Paper
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Businessman Sirajul Islam is an unlikely hero.
Only last week, on May 12, The Straits Times reported that he and his wife were slapped with the largest fine so far for violating fire-safety regulations.
Mr Sirajul, a Bangladeshi who is a permanent resident here, his Singaporean wife, Madam Sapiah Haron, used to run a restaurant at Lembu Road in Little India called Aliyah's Restaurant.
But a fire broke out there on Aug 14 last year. The blaze was caused by an explosion in the kitchen, fuelled by a gas cylinder. It injured 11 people, nine of whom were patrons, and two restaurant employees.
The couple was fined $63,000 for safety violations. No deadline was set for the payment of the fine and the couple has appealed through a lawyer to be allowed to pay $500 a month over 10 years.
Besides the fine, those injured are seeking to claim close to $300,000 in hospital expenses from him, Mr Sirajul said. He said he may not be able to claim the sum from his insurance company because of the safety violations.
He told The New Paper: "I am in a lot of financial difficulties. I am having problems paying my PUB bills and my children's school fees. My wife has resorted to pawning her jewellery."
He has four children, aged three, four, six and 17. Last year, when The New Paper interviewed Mr Sirajul about the fire, he broke down in tears and said he was closing his restaurant business as he was afraid of starting another fire.
He had opened the restaurant serving Bangladeshi cuisine in 2007.
He has since converted the space into a provision shop.
Mr Sirajul first came to Singapore in 1993 on a work permit and worked as an electrician at a shipyard. He married Madam Sapiah in 1995 but was later deported for breaching his work permit terms, which did not allow him to get married here. By then, the couple had their first child.
He returned to Singapore only a decade later when the Ministry of Manpower granted Madam Sapiah's request to overturn his entry ban.
They went on to have three more children and started the restaurant and a provision shop in Boon Lay. They even upgraded from a two-room flat to the four-room flat in Jurong.
However, since the restaurant fire, the family has fallen on hard times financially, he said.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
Hero has money woes after fire at his restaurant
Tweet
Mr Sirajul Islam gets a VIP visitor, DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam, after he and his wife were fined for safety violations.
By Hedy Khoo
The New Paper
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Businessman Sirajul Islam is an unlikely hero.
Only last week, on May 12, The Straits Times reported that he and his wife were slapped with the largest fine so far for violating fire-safety regulations.
Mr Sirajul, a Bangladeshi who is a permanent resident here, his Singaporean wife, Madam Sapiah Haron, used to run a restaurant at Lembu Road in Little India called Aliyah's Restaurant.
But a fire broke out there on Aug 14 last year. The blaze was caused by an explosion in the kitchen, fuelled by a gas cylinder. It injured 11 people, nine of whom were patrons, and two restaurant employees.
The couple was fined $63,000 for safety violations. No deadline was set for the payment of the fine and the couple has appealed through a lawyer to be allowed to pay $500 a month over 10 years.
Besides the fine, those injured are seeking to claim close to $300,000 in hospital expenses from him, Mr Sirajul said. He said he may not be able to claim the sum from his insurance company because of the safety violations.
He told The New Paper: "I am in a lot of financial difficulties. I am having problems paying my PUB bills and my children's school fees. My wife has resorted to pawning her jewellery."
He has four children, aged three, four, six and 17. Last year, when The New Paper interviewed Mr Sirajul about the fire, he broke down in tears and said he was closing his restaurant business as he was afraid of starting another fire.
He had opened the restaurant serving Bangladeshi cuisine in 2007.
He has since converted the space into a provision shop.
Mr Sirajul first came to Singapore in 1993 on a work permit and worked as an electrician at a shipyard. He married Madam Sapiah in 1995 but was later deported for breaching his work permit terms, which did not allow him to get married here. By then, the couple had their first child.
He returned to Singapore only a decade later when the Ministry of Manpower granted Madam Sapiah's request to overturn his entry ban.
They went on to have three more children and started the restaurant and a provision shop in Boon Lay. They even upgraded from a two-room flat to the four-room flat in Jurong.
However, since the restaurant fire, the family has fallen on hard times financially, he said.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
