1,818 errant high-rises stay as they were

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha has taken no action against the errant 1,818 high-rises after its April 2019 field survey found 475 of the buildings developed without its approval and the rest 1,343 expanded vertically or horizontally in violation of the approved plans.

Rajuk director development control Mobarak Hossain on Sunday told New Age that the agency notified the building owners in November 2019 to demolish the unapproved buildings or the unauthorised expansions in three months.

‘We could not take further action due to the unavailability of police personnel and magistrates required to operate mobile courts. And the coronavirus outbreak has appeared as a big obstacle for follow-up steps now,’ Mobarak said.

Following the fire at FR Tower in Banani on March 28 last year, which killed 27 people, Rajuk in April initiated making a list of high-rise buildings, above 10 floors, in the capital that were developed without approval or breached the approved plans.

Former housing minister SM Rezaul Karim, who ordered the investigation, made the list public in a press conference at his office on May 27, 2019.

The list showed that 475 high-rises, including 44 government buildings, were built without Rajuk’s approval.

Most of these government buildings were developed by the public works department in Mirpur area in the capital while Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka University developed the other high-rises without approval, Rajuk officials said.

Rajuk teams found that 309 high-rises were vertically expanded without approval while 738 buildings breached the rules on land use, including one for keeping a 5.5 feet setback.

It found that 1,155 of the identified high-rises lacked adequate firefighting equipment such as hydrants, extinguishers, hose and alarm system.

PWD superintending engineer Mohammad Parvez Khadem said that the agency did not require approval from Rajuk as the chief architect of the department served as the authorised officer for approving plans.

The chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the housing ministry, Mosharraf Hossain, said that the committee in February asked Rajuk to produce a follow-up report on the illegal buildings in the next standing committee meeting scheduled in March.

‘’We could not hold the meeting because of the coronavirus outbreak. But, we will keep pressing the agency to make itself functional as the regulator of the capital’s development,’ he said.

‘Ninety per cent buildings in the country breached approved plans,’ he said.

Architect Iqbal Habib said that corruption was rampant in Rajuk and its officials had always been taking bribes for issuing approvals, allowing unauthorised buildings to develop without approval, blackmailing people by threatening to include their illegal buildings on the government list and again force them to pay money on a regular basis by threatening to demolish illegal structures.

‘No building is developed without the knowledge of Rajuk officials and they are part of all corruption’ said Iqbal, also joint secretary general of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan.

Records show that after every major building collapse or fire incident, Rajuk made lists of illegal buildings but never took action except serving notices.

Rajuk officials said that they could not take action as owners who illegally developed buildings obtained injunctions from the High Court against the notices they had served.

‘Rajuk has time and again failed to justify its existence. It’s an inactive agency that likes to remain that way and thrived on corruption with regard to both building and land development projects,’ said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association.

Former housing minister Mosharraf Hossain’s despair begged the question if there were similar stakes of collusive corruption in the ministry too, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman said.

Rajuk director Mobarak, however, claimed that the agency would take actions after things would become normal following the end of the coronavirus crisis.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net