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Rajuk under pressure

City Correspondent
Managing approvals with back dates, landowners aided by some dishonest Rajuk officials are constructingbuildings in the city.
But high officials of Rajuk said they could not take actions against the perpetrators as they lack a proper monitoring cell to look into the issue.
"Our hands are tied because those who are constructing buildings illegally are very influential," said a board member of Rajuk.
Sources in the Rajuk said that a section of its officials were engaged in managing approvals and clearances from concerned departments for constructing buildings in Dhaka. Although most of the approved designs are adapted as per building construction rules, It is alleged that the designs go through drastic changes when buildings are constructed.
"On paper, there are very few buildings which violate the building construction act. But the reality is totally different," a senior Rajukofficialsaid.
"We are helpless against the violators especially against those who have influence in the society. They are so powerful that they can even have our jobs terminated or can harass us professionally," he added.
Rajuk officials said that a number of cases have been filed
against people who violated construction rules. Rajuk last month filed a case against a company owned by a prominent businessman charging it of filling up a pan of the Gulshan Lake in Mohakhali. A good number of buildings were also identified that have been built in violation of the construction act. Rajuk issued letters asking the persons concerned to go by the rules or face demolition of the structures.
"If Rajuk could demolish even one single building, it would have discouraged a lot of people who violate the rules," said Rajuk's
chiefengineer M Emdadul Islam.
According to Rajuk's building laws, high rises are not allowed where adjacent roads are not atieast 25 feet wide. But in Dhaka, multistoried buildings have gone up even in areas with just nine feet wide road network.
Constructing a new building now requires meeting nearly forty conditions that include the building's height, road network, environment, parking space and clearances from utility service agencies.
"Getting clearance from all concerned departments take
more than six months. Moreover, we are forced to bribe people at every stage of the clearance process. Even then the approval remains uncertain," said Motahar Hossain, a landowner of Uttarkhan.
It has been alleged that corrupt officials and middlemen in Rajuk get clearances from the utility agencies and the department of environment by sharing bribe money and sometimes they even supply fake clearances.
"We have found some fake clearances with forged signatures but we do not know who are behind this forgery,” said Islam.
Recently Rajuk suspended five of its officials following an investigation into how certain buildings could be raised without approval. Rajuk had submitted complaints against 86 buildings in the city to the recently abolished Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for investigation as they were not erected with the approval from Rajuk. But the ACB did not take any action against the owners of those buildings. The files have now been transferred to the newly formed Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
"We could not take any measures against the unapproved buildings because of a corrupt circle which includes Rajuk officials and law enforcement officers," said Emdadul Islam.
****A section of Rajuk's officials were engaged in managing approvals and clearances from concerned departments for constructing buildings in Dhaka. Most approved designs are adapted as per building construction rules, but it is alleged that these go through drastic changes during construction****