THE FR Tower in the city’s posh Banani area where fire incident killed at least 25 people on Thursday and injured 100 others had no permission for its top four floors. The additional floors were constructed breaching the building code. The deaths have exposed the RAJUK’s anomalies in constructing high-rise buildings in the aristocratic area. Defiantly, there are hundreds of tall buildings in the city those were constructed violating all rules and regulations.
After Nimtali and Chawkbazar infernos, we came to know that the areas were filled with illegal chemical warehouses and no fire safety guidelines were maintained there. After a bus ran over a student, we came to know that it was driven by conductor instead of driver and it had no route permit.
Everything is heavy pricy in this country except life and no one is responsible for not ensuring fire safety in the buildings, establishing chemical warehouse in residential areas or plying buses by the helpers.
The FR Tower owner took permission to construct an 18-storey building but in 2005 he submitted a photocopy of the building’s design showing 22 floors without documents to support it. The original design had an emergency staircase, but the RAJUK could not confirm whether the building’s emergency exit was built as per the design. The building houses a restaurant, a coffee shop, a branch of Pubali Bank, a buying house, a freight-forwarding company, and many other firms.
Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) officials said they have written to all the building owners on this street, including this one, at least five to six times, asking them to take precautions for fire safety. But no action was taken. Under the building code, buildings with over 500 occupants must have at least two staircases, and fire exits need to have doors that block out fire and smoke.
Like FR Tower, there are hundreds of buildings in the city where minimum fire safety is not ensured. The question is — why the RAJUK and FSCD have failed to force the building owners to fulfil the compliance? How the building owners got fire clearance? These questions must be answered.
After Nimtali and Chawkbazar infernos, we came to know that the areas were filled with illegal chemical warehouses and no fire safety guidelines were maintained there. After a bus ran over a student, we came to know that it was driven by conductor instead of driver and it had no route permit.
Everything is heavy pricy in this country except life and no one is responsible for not ensuring fire safety in the buildings, establishing chemical warehouse in residential areas or plying buses by the helpers.
The FR Tower owner took permission to construct an 18-storey building but in 2005 he submitted a photocopy of the building’s design showing 22 floors without documents to support it. The original design had an emergency staircase, but the RAJUK could not confirm whether the building’s emergency exit was built as per the design. The building houses a restaurant, a coffee shop, a branch of Pubali Bank, a buying house, a freight-forwarding company, and many other firms.
Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) officials said they have written to all the building owners on this street, including this one, at least five to six times, asking them to take precautions for fire safety. But no action was taken. Under the building code, buildings with over 500 occupants must have at least two staircases, and fire exits need to have doors that block out fire and smoke.
Like FR Tower, there are hundreds of buildings in the city where minimum fire safety is not ensured. The question is — why the RAJUK and FSCD have failed to force the building owners to fulfil the compliance? How the building owners got fire clearance? These questions must be answered.
