Ehsanul Haque Jasim :Fresh cracks were developed on the road near the Sundarban Hotel near Panthapath in the city on Thursday evening. A part of boundary wall of a building also collapsed while some trees fell in the hole dug up for construction work of the ‘Twin Tower’ building. Witnesses said that some cracks were developed in the boundary wall in the afternoon and its part collapsed at about 9:00 pm. Later, cracks were also seen on the road of Panthpath. The vehicular movement at the SAARC Fountain and Panthapath was stopped following the fresh collapse and the cracks. In this situation, the SAARC Fountain is now in the risk, as it may face the fate of the hotel.Billboards, makeshift shops and hawkers from the site were removed in apprehension of big incident. The boundary wall of the Sundarban Hotel and the road adjacent to it caved in into construction site of the high-rise building-‘Twin Tower’ of the National Bank during a rainfall.Most of the construction works in Dhaka city, particularly that of the high-rise buildings, are going on violating rules and building code. Different buildings are being constructed even without obtaining permission from the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkhya (RAJUK), said many people. According to the RAJUK, at least 10,000 vulnerable buildings in the city were constructed with faulty design. A RAJUK official said that many buildings in Old Dhaka are more vulnerable. However, many put blame on the RAJUK for the vulnerable buildings. They said that widespread violation of the National Building Code 1993 continues in the absence of proper supervision by the competent authorities.The people fear that these buildings may turn into death traps during natural disaster or any other incident like earthquake and fire incident. According to the seismic experts, a huge number of structures and buildings in Dhaka will be destroyed if a moderate tremor hits the country.Earthquake expert Prof Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said that if an 8-9 magnitude of earthquake hits Dhaka, the city would face an unprecedented human disaster due to the unplanned urbanization and construction of faulty buildings. Such earthquake will leave nearly 1 lakh people dead, he added. The experts and the observers said that most of under-construction works and multi-storey buildings in the city are risky, as these are being constructed with improper piling, use of inferior quality materials and violation of building code. The reasons have been found in most of the collapsed buildings and cracks on roads in the city in the recent past. The Wednesday’s incident at Sundarban Hotel at Karwanbazar in the city is the latest example. Similar incident also occurred in the city earlier on May 11, as boundary wall of a under constructed building at 72, Bijoynagar collapsed after the road was slide due to impact of rainfall.The Karwanbazar incident was worse that of Bijoynagor. It was reported that the ‘Twin Tower’ is being constructed violating the rules by dumping soil and filling up the adjacent road that connects Karwanbazar to Hatirpool. Soil from the site dumped at the turning adjoining Panthakunja and SAARC Fountain, blocking over half of the road meant for traffic. The RAJUK and the construction firm have been blamed for the incident.Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Annisul Huq visited the spot again on Thursday. He instructed removal of billboards, makeshift shops and hawkers from the collapse site.Following a decision by a committee comprising representatives of the Army, Fire Service, City Corporation, RAJUK and others concerned, around 500 trucks of sand were piled the spot to save the Sundarban Hotel. Talking to reporters, Annisul Huq said that he would seek the army’s help to prevent any further damage following the cave-in of the Karwanbazar road. He expressed his anger at the lack of sand reinforcement in the ditch to protect the six-storey hotel and its adjacent area. “It stopped short of being a big accident. We are not dismissing that possibility even now,” he said. The Mayor announced to form a committee to investigate reasons behind the incident. He, however, said that construction firm and other concerned couldn’t avert responsibility. RAJUK’s Authorised Officer Saiful Hannan said that the construction firm is responsible for the incident. He admitted that a number of buildings exit in the Dhaka which are vulnerable. Owner of the construction firm Mohammad Salauddin blamed the recent earthquake and rain for the collapse. The experts have been saying that a number buildings and under-construction works are in more risk in case of earthquake. Meanwhile, the RAJUK filed a case against construction firms-MS Constructions and Development’s Project Director, Herim Architects & Planners’ Ltd and E & Dong accusing them of the Karwanbazar incident. A RAJUK officer filed the case with Kalabagan Police Station on Thursday evening, said OC of police station Mohammad Ikbal. Officials of National Bank were also accused in the case, the OC said adding that they would take action against the accused.
