About 95 per cent of more than 11,000 buildings constructed in Rajuk areas between 2009 and 2012 without fire service approval, an Anti-Corruption Commission probe official said.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Act requires the construction of any
building of six storeys or above a fire service approval.The Anti-Corruption Commission has found that most of the buildings that were built with Rajuk approval in the period were above six storeys.
Commission officials said that some corrupt officials of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha had given the building owners with ‘forged in exchange for bribes.
An inquiry team collected lists of approval given to buildings between 2009 and 2012 from both Rajuk and the Fire Service and Civil Defence, the commission’s director Tawhidul Islam said.
According to the lists, Rajuk gave approval for 2,643 buildings in 2009, 3,595 in 2010, 3970 in 2011 and 1599 in 2012. This is a total of 11,807.
During the period, the Fire Service and Civil Defence gave approval for 164 buildings in 2009, 150 in 2010, 83 in 2011 and 150 in 2012, tallying 517 in all, commission findings said.
The commission officials said that some corrupt Rajuk officials had forged fire approvals and sold them to people seeking building approvals.
Officials of the commission said that the corrupt Rajuk officials also misadvised the people who seek Rajuk approval for their buildings. The corrupt officials discourage building owners from seeking approval from the fire service and the environment authorities and offer them all the required papers in exchange for money.
The officials said that most of the building owners who collected the approval through middlemen were not aware of the authenticity of these documents.
The commission also sent a letter to the environment directorate seeking its list of approvals for the construction of buildings in Rajuk area between 2009 and 2012, the officials said.
Rajuk member (planning) Sheikh Abdul Mannan told New Age that the city development authorities would take legal action against officials involved in ‘forging fire approval certificates’ if there were any such cases.
He said that the approval of the Fire Service and Civil Defence was mandatory for high rises, which are defined by the fire service authorities as buildings having six or more storeys. Rajuk will examine the lists of approval and find out the forgery.
He also suggested that the fire service authorities should take legal action against the owners having no fire service approval for their buildings.
Mohammad Mahboob, director (operation and maintenance) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said that it was the responsibility of Rajuk to take action against corrupt officials. ‘Why does Rajuk approve buildings without checking all documents?’ he said.
He said that it was not possible for the Fire Service and Civil Defence to take action against faulty buildings for the shortage of manpower.
Mahboob said that there was a conflict between Rajuk and and the Fire Service and Civil Defence over the definition of high rises. While Rajuk calls buildings of 10 storeys or more high rises, the Fire Service and Civil Defence says any buildings having six or more stories are high rises.
-With New Age input
