Ehsanul Haque Jasim :A small road adjacent to Sundarban Hotel at Karwanbazar in the city caved in following unplanned piling of an under-construction high-rise building on Wednesday morning, leaving the hotel in extreme danger. The Fire Service and Civil Defence [FSCD] authority instantly directed to evacuate the hotel immediately, as a portion of its boundary wall damaged and fell into the hole dug up for the construction site. Some makeshift tea stalls, grocery shops, rickshaw vans and other establishments also fell in the hole when the road turned into a ditch just within few moments. The incident took place when it was raining yesterday morning. The situation posed risk also to some nearby buildings. However, none was hurt in the incident. After the incident, pedestrians were asked not to use the road. Water and electricity supplies were cut off in the area. On information, FSCD personnel, police and other concerned agencies rushed to the spot. Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Sayeed Khokon, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul Huq and local MP Fazle Noor Taposh visited the spot and expressed annoyance over negligence of the owner and RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha). According to witnesses, the road caved into the construction site and the boundary wall of the hotel collapsed into the hole when it was raining. General Manager of Sundarban Hotel Md Wajed Ali said that the incident developed cracks on the hotel walls. A part of the hotel building’s basement also sank to the ground. The boarders of the hotel were shifted to safe place, he added. He blamed the construction authorities for the incident. “Danger was imminent. We notified them, but they did not pay heed to the matter. If the matter was dealt with in time, this would not have happened,” he said. Wajed Ali, however, filed a general diary (GD) with Kalabagan Police Station against the construction firm — MS Construction. The under-construction site belongs to National Bank Limited [NBL] where a multi-storey building named ‘Twin Tower’ is being constructed with a three-storied basement. Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan, an engineer and director general of FSCD officials said that the hotel was in danger as shore piling of the adjacent under-construction site had failed.Meanwhile, a coordination committee was formed led by DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq to protect the Sundarban Hotel. Representatives from Bangladesh University Engineering & Technology (BUET), RAJUK, two city corporations of Dhaka, building authorities and law enforcement agencies were also included in the committee. However, the names of the representatives were not known immediately. On the other hnad, the RAJUK has taken a primary decision of dumping the site with sacks of sand. Two city corporations of Dhaka, National Bank and Abdul Munayem Group will cooperate the work. Housing & Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain asked the RAJUK to form a three-member probe body to submit the report in the incident within 24 hours. He made the directive during his visit to the spot in the evening. Shore piling is meant to protect the edge of the soil, the official said, the collapse took place due to the poorly-deigned groundwork of the under-construction building. The authorities should immediately protect the piling by using huge sand bags, he added. Similar incident also occurred in the city earlier on May 11, as boundary wall of a under constructed building at 72, Bijoynogor collapsed after the road was slide due to impact of rainfall.However, yesterday’s incident was worst than that incident. The Bigoynogor building wall reportedly collapsed because of proper precaution was not taken to support the soil while piling. The NBL ‘Twin Tower’ is being constructed violating rules by dumping soil and filling up the adjacent road that connects Karwan Bazar to Hatirpool. Soil from the site dumped at the turning adjoining Panthakunja and SAARC Fountain in the city, blocking off over half of the road meant for traffic.Talking to media in the spot, Sayeed Khokon blamed the for the incident and blasted them for their carelessness. “It is the duty of RAJUK to look after it. There is no doubt that they showed carelessness,” he said. The Mayor also said that the nearby buildings have also become risky following the collapse.Annisul Huq said that said the area appeared risky and dangerous as the entire road could cave in any time. They will call RAJUK officials to discuss what steps will be required to tackle this situation, he said. Also blaming the RAJUK for the incident, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said that action should be taken against the RAJUK officials, as they did not take any safety measures. If action is not taken place, such accident will happen again, he added. On the other hand, RAJUK put the blame on construction firm. It would file case against the firm. “The construction firm is responsible for the incident. We will sue them,” said Abdur Rahman, acting chairman of RAJUK. RAJUK’s Authorised Officer Saiful Hannan said that the shore piling had collapsed due to the lack of proper iron bracing used for protecting piling.Salauddin, entrepreneur of the MS Construction, who had been working on the site for a year, blamed the recent earthquake and rain for the collapse. “Recent earthquakes and rain might have created a gap in the piling which did the collapse,” he said. A joint meeting of Fire Service, RAJUK and City Corporation was scheduled to be held following the incident to address the issue.
