Dhaka North Zone-5 office runs in hazardous building

Mir Akkas Ali was astonished to find that a part of the plaster of the ceiling had collapsed on the floor when he entered his room in the Dhaka North City Corporation Zone-5 office in the capital's Karwan Bazar on Tuesday morning. The rusty rods in the ceiling were also exposed due to the incident.

However, Akkas Ali, accounts officer of the office, and his assistant Md Sohel cleared the floor and started working at their desks in the room despite fears of a further collapse of plaster.

"We have been working in this risky building for a long time. In the last few days, the plaster on the ceiling of different rooms of the building has collapsed. On 25 September, a part of the ceiling of the regional executive officer's room collapsed. The next day, the same happened in his assistant's room. Fortunately, no one was injured," Md Sohel told The Business Standard.

"We are working in this office at risk. Thousands of people who come to this office every day are afraid because of its dilapidated condition. And yet the authorities are not taking any action to repair the building," he added.

The office is on the second floor of the two-storey building. The rest of the second floor has cheap accommodation for daily wagers and a restaurant at one corner. However, this part of the building is riskier than the city corporation office.

Photo: Md Jahidul Islam/TBS

The ground floor of the building has warehouses of vegetables and spices. Warehouse owners say they repaired the roof of the building five or six months ago at their own expense.

According to people concerned, the building was declared hazardous by different authorities a long time ago, but the authorities have not made any move to repair it.

The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) declared the building risky in 2013 and recommended its demolition. The revenue department of the DNCC has also shown the building as abandoned in a report.

Earlier, in 2010, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) included it in its list of 321 hazardous buildings.

DNCC officials say that they will relocate the regional office within the next month and the building will be demolished soon after evicting the rest of the people who are in it or make use of it.

People concerned have said that the most vulnerable part of the building is the second floor with cheap accommodation for daily wagers and shops selling jute sacks. This part of the floor has more than 300 small-congested rooms.

Water falls through the ceiling of most of these rooms when it rains, as they have no plaster, they said.

Rustam Ali, a tea seller on the second floor, said, "Some part or the other of the ceiling falls almost every day. These parts are later covered with wood and clothes. We have to stay here in continuous fear."

Photo: Md Jahidul Islam/TBS

Md Yusuf, a warehouse owner on the ground floor of the building, said, "I have been hearing for a long time that the building is dangerous. But we are running our business here only for the sake of survival."

He said, "There are about 60 rooms on the ground floor accommodating about 300 shops. Each shop has around 20-25 employees. At night, several thousands of people come here."

Another warehouse owner, Md Hanif, said, "We repaired the roof around six months ago with money from the cooperative society. We found that the quality of the rod used there is very poor. A part of the rear of the market collapsed two months ago."

The regional executive officer was outside during the collapse of the plaster in the ceiling on 25 and 26 September. Officials said that around 400 employees of the office are still in a state of panic due to such accidents.

Motakabbir Ahmed, executive officer of Zone-5 of Dhaka North City Corporation, told TBS, "I was out of office on the day when a part of the ceiling collapsed in my room. We will shift our office to Mohammadpur within a month. After that the whole building will be demolished."

Dr Mohammad Mahe Alam, chief property officer of DNCC, said, "We will initially move the office to the RAB-2 office in Mohammadpur. We have discussed the issue with the home minister. A building for the permanent office of DNCC Zone-5 will be constructed beside the kitchen market at Mohammadpur Town Hall."

"As there are traders here, it is difficult to demolish the building right now. We will demolish it after giving them time to relocate their businesses," he added.