Habibur Rahman (bappy), Reporter || Construction has officially begun on a 12-storey residential building for officers and employees of the Fire Service and Civil Defence at the Mirpur Fire Station in Dhaka.The building is being constructed under a project titled Construction of Two Multi-Storey Residential Buildings for Officers and Employees of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department. The Mirpur facility is the first of the two planned buildings under the project.Brigadier General Muhammad Zahid Kamal, Director General of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, attended the inauguration ceremony as the chief guest on Thursday.The programme began with a formal guard of honour presented by a contingent of firefighters from the Mirpur Fire Station upon the director general’s arrival at around 1:30pm. Project Director and Joint Secretary Md. Sarwar Hossain welcomed the chief guest with flowers. The ceremony also included a recitation from the Holy Quran by Fire Service religious instructor Muhaddis Kazi Sharif Ullah.In the opening remarks, Executive Engineer of Mirpur Public Works Department Md. Hasinur Rahman addressed the gathering. Special guests included Md. Nuruzzaman Hossain Zahir, supervising engineer of the Development Wing at the Public Works Department headquarters, and Nur-e-Asmani, executive engineer of the Department of Architecture and designer of the building.Project Director Md. Sarwar Hossain expressed gratitude to the director general and the officials concerned from the Public Works Department and the Department of Architecture for their contributions to the project. Director (Administration and Finance) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Md. Shahid Atahar Hossain, also addressed the event.Speaking as the chief guest, Brigadier General Muhammad Zahid Kamal thanked the project director and all those involved in the initiative. He said the building would accommodate 44 families in apartments measuring 1,250 square feet each, fulfilling a long-standing expectation of Fire Service officers and employees.He added that the building would feature modern facilities and include provisions to ensure accessibility for people with special needs.Following the speeches, the chief guest and other guests symbolically cut the soil at the construction site to inaugurate the work. The programme concluded with a prayer attended by those present. The event was attended by the managing director of the Fire Service Welfare Trust, senior officials from the Fire Service, Public Works Department and related agencies, as well as representatives of the contractor.