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Collapse of factory

28 May 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Sultana Alam Dhanmondi, Dhaka
28 May 2005, 18:00 PM
When buildings cause deaths, it's time to finally get serious about building codes, zoning codes and the performance of those we pay to enforce them. If we ever doubted the power of careless building and zoning standards, the collapse of the Spectrum Sweater Factory in our premier EPZ in Savar should cure us of any illusion. Consider the fact: In the space of a minute something like 300 lives were snuffed out when a building, founded on sheer greed, collapsed in a heap. The last time I looked, that's many times the number of lives rubbed out each day by the high-tech weaponry deployed in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan when they were truly sizzling!

Let's forget the twaddle. Let's abandon the claptrap. The esteemed OC of the Detective Branch actually sounds credible when he tells The Daily Star that he "cannot trace the owner" of the Spectrum Sweater Factory, relative of an "influential ruling party lawmaker," for want of a home address.

Rajuk claims that its responsibilities start and end with setting policy and issuing permits. If you are responsible for forbidding the public from building killer buildings or filling low-lying areas that serve as flood protection, you are responsible for seeing that they jolly well don't. As Zarina Hossain points out in her letter (April 17, 2005), a building does not go up overnight. Even a six-storey edifice takes at least 24 months. Plenty of time for Rajuk's officials to see, observe and act. And do what the public pays them to do.

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It's time we gathered in our Neroes, whether in or out of retirement, and started the process of attaching their houses, assets and pensions as compensation to the public who have had the thankless job of paying their salaries all these years.