Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha’s (Rajuk) abrupt move to evict shops and commercial establishments from residential buildings has come as a big blow to many who have made sizable investment and running businesses giving jobs to people and supporting other commercial chain.
The move already caused outrage from businessmen facing disruption in their businesses and pushing them to uncertainty as to how and where to move out and start new business.
Rajuk has already prepared a list of 700 buildings located in the city’s Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Uttara areas for eviction and taking the occupants by surprise without prior notice.
Owners of these buildings have been blamed for renting their building spaces to businessmen for setting up bars, guest houses, restaurants, private community centres, fitness centres, spa and beauty parlours, colleges and universities, hospitals and such other establishments.
Landlords of the buildings mobilized big amount from their tenants as advance for providing the facility and now becoming victims of such evictions.
Business establishments set up in lower floors of residential buildings have created more than one lakh jobs and the businessmen roughly invested over Tk 1500 crore.
The practice is going on for the last 30 years without raising the question of legally by the concerned authorities even the Rajuk did not raise question when those establishments developed under the nose of the Rajuk inspectors and to the knowledge of the senior Rajuk officials.
If these were illegal why Rajuk did not raise the issue immediately and send team to stop such renting practice or seal the establishments, businessmen said asking what is illegal today was also illegal earlier but they did not try to make their point.
Rajuk people may be legitimately asked why they were silent and now taking the move only to disrupt established businesses in those areas. One may legitimately even sue Rajuk for neglect of duty and breaking of their own laws by keeping silent.
Meanwhile, gas and electricity connections were given to those businesses at commercial rates and even many Rajuk officials and other government officials have also rented space of their own buildings. It can’t be disowned by a simple stroke of pen now when such move is poised to destroy many businesses to end in ruin and cause severe slow down in economic activities including joblessness.
It is a total arbitrary move and one can’t properly guess what real motive is behind it although both the City Corporations and Rajuk claim that they are doing it as a routine work to restore living environment in those residential areas.
The question is that an elected government always cares for its citizens and if the rise of business establishments in those areas was a threat to the living environment, why they did not do their routine eviction before businesses made investment to open their windows.
Punishing any one in post facto basis is illegal and immoral that lacked any proper justifications but since the government has a long hand over the common people, it is using its arbitrary power to bring ruin to their businesses.
An expert in city planning told the New Nation that Rajuk has destroyed its own credibility by breaking its own law. It is still destroying the living environment of the residential areas by allowing high rise buildings in those areas.
For example, Baridhara Diplomatic Zone area was entitled to build six storied buildings at first, but it is allowing more floors above six stories and even up to 10 or 12 floors showing a chaotic shift from original plan.
He said Rajuk may be allowing it under unknown circumstances and it shows that it has no consistency in its policy and planning.
If it were true, past inconsistencies can’t be a cause of punitive action in present day reality.
Another senior citizen said Rajuk should allow expansion of commercial buildings at Gulshan to make it a mixed city of businesses. The reality is that when it allows big hotels it can’t discriminate against restaurants.
In Gulshan new areas have been declared as commercial areas because the reality so demanded. The population has gone up in a surprising way especially as garment industries created new demand for more hotels and restaurants.
The truth is that Rajuk law allows residential hotels. So many thought it also covers restaurants under residential hotels as there cannot be hotels without restaurants.
More new areas have grown commercial the indirect permission of the authorities like DESCO supplying electricity and City Corporation issuing trade licenses. So it will not be just, fair or practical to punish the owners or tenants who invested crores of taka on these establishments.
