A landowner, a developer, and Rajuk officials were involved with the FR Tower fire in Banani -- an incident that killed at least 26 people on March 28 -- said Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim yesterday.
Among Rajuk officials, those assigned to the area, inspectors, and authorized officials were all responsible for the fire as it was their duty to monitor development activities, the minister added.
“When a report appeared in 2007 over the illegal portion of Banani's FR Tower, the Rajuk chairman at the time, and a few others, failed to take any action. We have formed a high level probe committee to look into why they were unable to do anything and how the mismanagement has been unnoticed since 2007,” he said at a discussion on the responsibilities of the government and citizens in building construction at Dhaka Reporters Unity.
The minister said the inspection and investigation reports would be published, and all reports on irregularities would be made available to the public through national dailies and electronic media.
Rajuk officials will be blamed if any illegal building is constructed in their areas, while inspectors will have to file weekly reports indicating the number of such buildings, he said.
Action if buildings lack emergency exits
Action will be taken against owners of buildings if they do not ensure emergency exit routes or passages in case of hazardous incidents, said the minister.
“Emergency exits have been blocked in certain buildings while many buildings do not even have any. We will set a timeframe for buildings that do not have emergency exits, and they will have to comply,” he added.
The minister said buildings which do not have fire extinguishing equipment will also be provided a time-frame to comply with building code measures.
“We will send inspection teams again after the deadline -- and then classify the buildings as 'livable' if the teams approve the certificates,” he added.
For owners of high-rise buildings, the minister said it would be mandatory for them to remove any illegal portions.
3, 000 eviction notices stayed by HC
Regarding legal barriers, the minister said the eviction process for about 3,000 notices remain pending in high courts because of stay orders.
“We have that notices be issued with specific reasons. Mass notices will not be accepted. If anyone issues a notice without specific reasons, they will face action,” the minister said.
The new building code will be published within two weeks in a gazette format, he informed the media.
