4 engineers suspended; death toll in Ctg landslide rises to 17
Faulty construction and lack of maintenance of the wall built by the Chittagong City Corporation to protect the Batali hill caused Friday’s tragic death of 17 people living in the foothill shanties.
“Just by looking at the wall, we can easily find some faults in its construction,” said Ehsane Elahi, convener of the five-member probe committee formed by the district administration.
There should have been strong angular concrete walls to protect the outer portion of the main protection wall but there has been nothing like that, said Elahi, also the additional deputy commissioner of Chittagong.
He added that a huge quantity of earth piled to support the outer face of the two-layer wall was found removed, which might have contributed to the collapse.
The CCC engineers should have monitored it regularly, Elahi observed.
Delwar Majumder, former president of the Institute of Engineers of Bangladesh (IEB) Chittagong chapter, echoed his views.
He said the earth could not be removed in a short time. Owners of the illegal slums must have removed that gradually with no resistance from the authorities.
Protection walls are built keeping holes at suitable distances to help discharge the rain water, he said, adding: “But, it seems, there was no such holes in the wall.”
However, Gias Uddin, contractor of the portion that collapsed, claimed they built the wall as per the condition given by the CCC engineers.
He said they kept holes during the construction but locals might have plugged those later.
The five-member committee will place its report on Thursday, Elahi said. He recommended another investigation by an expert committee.
Meanwhile, the CCC temporarily suspended four of its engineers and a construction supervisor under whose guidance the 360-foot wall was built three years ago.
The decision came at a meeting at the CCC chaired by Chittagong Mayor M Manjur Alam yesterday.
Those suspended include CCC Superintendent Engineer Mokhter Alam, Executive Engineer Abu Saleh, Assistant Engineer Rafik Uddin Siddique and Sub Assistant Engineer Ejajul Haider, CCC’s Public Relations Officer Saifuddin Ahmed said.
Officials present at the meeting, however, said they are yet to determine whether there was any technical fault in the construction of the wall or negligence on the part of those suspended.
A seven-member committee led by SM Iqbal Hossain, chairman of CCC Standing Committee on Works affairs, was formed to look into the matter.
Sources said around 300 feet of the 360-foot wall was constructed in 2008. Some 60 feet of that portion collapsed on Friday.
RESCUE OPERATION ENDS
The nearly 25-hour rescue operation ended around 8:00am yesterday with the recovery of the body of Razia Begum, 40. As of Friday, the death toll was 16.
More than 20 houses were ravaged when a portion of the Batali hill protection wall along with a huge chunk of earth fell on the shanties at the foot of the hill around 6:00am on Friday.
“The district administration stopped the rescue effort as locals have no more claims of missing people,” said Jashim Uddin, deputy assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
Quoting locals, The Daily Star on Saturday reported that four people — Selim, his wife Fatema and their two children Sagor and Shirin — were missing.
Asked about this, Jashim said a woman told him about Selim and his family members but none of the neighbouring dwellers claimed about their being missing.
Eleven bodies were buried by the relatives and the city corporation and the district administration buried the six others at the CCC graveyard at Bayezid Bostami.
The administration donated Tk 10,000 each for the deceased and Tk 5,000 each to two injured.
-With The Daily Star input
