A technical committee of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has recommended giving approval to the unauthorised expansion of 1,818 high-rises. The highrise buildings were identified as illegally expanded during inspections initiated after the FR Tower fire incident drew much attention in March 2019. The eight-member committee in its recommendation submitted in November 2020 suggested legalising the unauthorised expansions of the high-rises with monetary penalties. The committee suggested constructing emergency fire-staircases in these buildings on their set-back areas, which were supposed to remain empty as a condition in the approved plans.
Following the fire at FR Tower in Banani in 2019, which killed 27 people, Rajuk in April carried out a field survey of high-rise buildings above 10 floors and found 475 buildings developed without its approval and 1,343 others expanded vertically or horizontally in violation of respective approved plans. Criticising the latest move of legalising these buildings, urban planners and architects said that giving impunity would encourage others to grossly violate plans. Rectification after fixing penalty can only be allowed in case of minor deviations. But unauthorised expansions must be demolished. It is believed that a section of Rajuk officials is responsible along with the building owners for building code violations in exchange of undue payment. The survey team also found 134,925 out of 204,106 surveyed buildings faulty. Rajuk records show no progress despite making an earlier list of over 6,000 buildings in 2016 which grossly deviated from the approved plans.
Rajuk approved plan and plan violation both are said to be mutually agreed upon practice for benefitting building realtors and Rajuk officials. The approved design remains in the file, while there is a working plan to construct a building. With some exceptions, there is hardly any building in the city that complies with requirements of the building code. Experts say government needs to amend the building code for helping realtors to comply with, ask building owners to retrofit. Gross violators of building code know nothing can stop them from legalising latter. This is how corruption business flourishes.
