Demolition of ‘leaning’ building starts in Ctg

Demolition process of a five-storey tilted building in Chattogram city started in the afternoon yesterday.

"Initially all the doors and windows are being removed," said Nezam Uddin, OC of Kotwali Police Station.

The building owned by one Kartik Ghosh tilted around 9:30pm on Saturday night while piling was undergoing on the ground floor for facelift, said locals.

The building is being demolished by the owner.

On information, police and fire service officials rushed to the spot immediately and evacuated all residents of the building and that of the adjacent ones.

Police and fire service personnel cordoned off the area at Gowalpara Enayetbazar while the firefighters were hanging a cautionary signboard that it's a risky building.

OC Nezam Uddin said they informed Chattogram Development Authority on Saturday night to check whether its approval plan was followed in erecting the building.

Meanwhile, no CDA official was seen to visit the site till 12:30pm.

Contacted, Hasan Bin Shams, chief engineer of CDA, said he did not deal with the issue. He advised to contact CDA chief town planner Shahinul Islam Khan.

When this correspondent called Shahinul over phone around 12:40pm, he said he heard about the matter and was on the way to the spot.

"We will investigate the matter and then would be confirmed whether it was built following proper rules," he said.

Meanwhile, locals expressed their anger as CDA officials did not visit the spot after 15 hours into the incident.

Even Chattogram City Corporation mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury while visiting the spot also expressed dissatisfaction over the matter.

"The building will have to be demolished under the supervision of CDA for safety purpose but no official from the institution is yet to come to the spot," he told the journalists, adding, "It is unfortunate."

However, Raju Ghosh, son of Kartik Ghosh, told this newspaper that the building was constructed following the plan approved by CDA in 1996. "We were working on the ground floor; all of a sudden, the building started tilting."

Contacted, Dr Md Moinul Islam, professor of Civil Engineering at Chattogram University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet), said a building can he tilted for many reasons. For example, if a building is built on faulty structure or becomes vulnerable due to earthquake earlier. It may tilt when a vibration occurs during piling in and around the site, he said.

If a building becomes unbalanced due to overload in one side, it may tilt, said Dr Moinul.

"It's important to go for piling with proper arrangement around a building site," he said.

Echoing the same, Rokshana Binta Samad, assistant professor of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Cuet, said allegations are raised against building owners in many areas over constructing structure violating the plan approved by CDA.

"The CDA should monitor it properly," she said.

Mayor Rezaul Karim said CDA should not sit idle after giving approval, rather they should strictly monitor whether the plans are being followed properly.

CDA chief town planner Shahinul Islam Khan, who finally visited the tilted building later in the day, said their approval plan was not followed in constructing the structure.

"We approved the plan in 1996 but it was built some five years later," he said, adding, "Moreover, there is fault in design."

Asked, why CDA did not monitor it, Shahinul said CDA has to approve plan of 2,500 structures in a year with a condition of building those within three years of approval. "It's not possible for us to follow a party for three years."

"At present, CDA has 4.5 lakhs of approved structures," he said, adding, "Is it possible to monitor all those?"

Asked, whether legal action would be taken against owner of the tilted building, he replied in the positive.