3 lakh buildings constructed in capital without approval

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha would soon go for action against nearly 2,500 buildings identified to have been constructed in deviation from their approved designs, officials said.
About 90 per cent of more than 10 lakh buildings in the capital have been constructed without following the designs approved by the city development authorities, officials added.
They also said that there were nearly 3 lakh buildings which were erected without any permission and action could not be taken against them for lack of necessary manpower and required logistic support.
‘We have identified some 2,500 buildings having flaws in their designs and we will go for action against them,’ Syed Asheq-e-Rasul, the authorised officer of Rajuk told New Age.
In many cases, the city development authorities are unable to take action against building owners because of their strong influence in the government high-ups, sources said.
‘We are helpless. Whenever we start demolishing illegal structures or go for action, our moves are thwarted either by instructions from government high-ups or by court order,’ said a Rajuk official.
The authorities even do not have enough manpower to monitor every under-construction building, the official said, stressing the need for a specific mechanism like formation of vigilance teams with sufficient power to curb breach of the approved plans.
Nearly 15,000 buildings, approved according to the Building Construction Act 1996 and Building Construction Rules-2008, were now under construction in the capital.
‘We need 10 to 15 days in getting police squad for going into any drive and the police also remain under pressure from the administrative high-ups. Had there been our own force, the drives would have been effective,’ an official said.
The authorities during drives against illegal constructions demolish unauthorised portions of many buildings, but the owners reconstruct them as soon as the drives are over, he added.
‘We had to demolish the illegal portion of many buildings including one at KM Das Lane twice, but the owners had reconstructed them immediately afterwards,’ he said.
The Building Construc-tion Act of 1952 has provision for punishment of seven years’ imprisonment or a fine of Tk 50,000 or both in case of violation of the Building Construction Rules of 2008.
‘Political will is needed to enforce the laws and to create examples of stopping illegal construction and breaching of the rules and regulations,’ said Professor Nazrul Islam, a member of government-formed City Development Committee.
Nazrul Islam, also the chairman of the University Grants Commission, regretted the inaction against the violation of the building construction rules.

Courtesy of NewAgebd