One year after a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into Milestone School and College, killing 36 people, including 28 students, Bangladesh’s aviation safety overhaul has largely stalled, with hundreds of hazardous buildings still standing around Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport despite repeated official directives to remove them.
A Dhaka Tribune investigation has found that many of the key safety measures ordered after the July 21, 2025 disaster remain either partially implemented or entirely unfulfilled, raising fresh concerns over whether Bangladesh has acted on the lessons of one of its worst aviation tragedies.
In a significant admission, RAJUK Chairman Engineer Md Reazul Islam Rizu acknowledged that authorities have made no visible progress in removing many of the dangerous structures identified around the airport corridor.
He said RAJUK has identified 630 buildings that potentially violate aviation safety restrictions between 2015 and 2025, but legal proceedings, eviction drives and enforcement actions remain incomplete in most cases.
“Even one year after the Milestone tragedy, visible progress in removing hazardous buildings around the airport has not been achieved,” the chairman told Dhaka Tribune.
He also acknowledged that political and administrative influence has obstructed enforcement efforts.
“Political and administrative pressure has become a barrier in implementing some eviction activities,” he said.
The admission is one of the clearest official acknowledgements to date that institutional obstacles, not merely technical challenges, have prevented authorities from implementing reforms promised after the disaster.
The chairman also disclosed that disagreements between RAJUK and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) over technical data have delayed the joint field survey needed to verify building heights around airport approach and departure corridors.
According to him, the planned removal of structures located within the mandatory 300-foot safety buffer beside the Metro Rail depot has also failed to progress as intended.
Internal RAJUK documents reviewed by Dhaka Tribune show that authorities ordered an extensive package of emergency reforms immediately after the crash.
These included demolishing unsafe structures around the Milestone campus, clearing the Metro Rail safety buffer, identifying buildings exceeding airport height restrictions, enforcing approved land-use plans, shutting unauthorized hostel operations, ensuring compliance with the Bangladesh National Building Code 2020, and preparing an Air Funnel Zone policy to control future development near airport flight paths.
Yet field visits found that although portions of the crash-damaged building have been demolished, many surrounding structures identified as safety concerns remain untouched.
A senior RAJUK official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the situation as an institutional failure.
“There is no scope for RAJUK to avoid responsibility,” the official said.
“Seven or eight coordination meetings have been held since the tragedy, but we have not reached an effective operational conclusion.”
RAJUK Director (Planning) Ashraful Islam similarly acknowledged that many decisions remain at the planning stage.
“We are taking steps on all issues, but many of them are still in planning,” he said.
The investigation also found that despite the existence of the list of 630 allegedly non-compliant buildings, authorities could not provide a comprehensive public record showing how many have been demolished, regularized, fined or cleared after inspection.
The absence of a transparent enforcement database has further fuelled questions about regulatory accountability.
Urban planning experts warn that the delay increases future risks.
BUET Professor Hadiuzzaman said airport funnel zones require strict protection under international aviation standards and cautioned that policy discussions alone cannot prevent future disasters.
Bangladesh Institute of Planners General Secretary Sk Mehdi Hasan said the Milestone tragedy reflects a familiar pattern in Bangladesh.
“A major accident occurs, committees are formed, recommendations are issued, agencies become active for a short period, and then momentum fades,” he said.
Victims’ families also questioned why responsibility continues to shift between institutions while many of the underlying hazards remain.
The Milestone crash investigation concluded that pilot error caused the accident, but it also found serious deficiencies in the school’s infrastructure, including non-compliance with building safety requirements that investigators said contributed to the high casualty toll.
One year later, however, the broader reforms intended to make the airport corridor safer remain unfinished.
The Air Funnel Zone policy has yet to be finalised, the joint height survey has not begun, the Metro Rail safety buffer has not been fully cleared, and hundreds of buildings identified by regulators continue to await legal action.
The Milestone disaster exposed critical weaknesses in Bangladesh’s aviation and urban planning oversight.
A year later, the investigation suggests the state’s biggest challenge is no longer identifying the risks, but enforcing the rules designed to eliminate them.
