Building on Jheel
Close shave for tenants
Mizanur Rahman has just finished constructing his three-storey building in a jheel (a long pool of water) at Norda in the capital’s Dakkhinkhan area. He had rented it out to tenants who were supposed to move in from Monday next.
The building toppled on a tin-shed house at the edge of the jheel Tuesday night. However, no one has been reported injured or missing.
The residents of the tin-shed house, Jyotsna Begum and her two daughters, were miraculously saved as they were all in a room, which did not crumble under the collapsed building.
The mother and daughters moved to a new house, as their former one was severely damaged and no longer suitable for living.
During a spot visit, it was seen that the building lacked foundation and the site is still under three-foot-deep water. Mizanur had erected the structure on 18 six-feet-long pillars each of which stood on a four square feet of concrete plates.
Locals said they warned Mizanur not to construct a building on such pillars.
Some more one-storey houses have been built there filling up a portion of the jheel while many other plots are there demarcated with concrete poles.
When contacted over the phone and asked about the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha permission for the structure, Mizanur switched off his cellphone.
Fire fighters, police and people from Dhaka Electric Supply Authority rushed to the spot around 9:00 that night. They, however, did not start moving the rubble, as there were no reports of casualty or missing people.
Power supply in the area had to be cut off for the night since the building collapsed snapping electric cables.
On June 1 this year, 25 people were killed and many others injured as a five-storey tin-made structure collapsed on nearby tin-shed houses in the capital’s Begunbari area.
