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Fulbaria DCC-South Market

Anomalies found in shop allotment

Helemul Alam
The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) authorities have defrauded 399 shop allotees of three markets in the capital's Phulbaria area by renting out their space to others.
Former administrator Khalilur Rahman and a few more officials of DSCC had allegedly done this for fast money, said insiders.
On April 19,2011, Khalilur rented out 555 shops, totalling 129,000 square feet of space, of the markets at the rate of Tk 20 per sq-ft which had earlier been sold to 399 people in October 2010 at Tk4,500per sq-ft.
The anomaly was detected by the immediate past administrator Jillar Rahman, who succeeded Khalilur Rahman on May
31, 2011. Soon the renting was cancelled and this led to litigation with the High Court. The court suspended any constructionworkin the three markets.
Jillar, however, took no steps whatsoever against the officials involved in the anomaly.
The current administrator, Nazrul Islam who took the office on December 2 last year, also made no effort to this end. Asked why, he said he was not aware of it as the anomaly had been done earlier.
"I will look into the matter and take necessary action,” said Nazrul.
On November 28, 2012, the AntiCorruption Commission (ACC) sought all the necessary documents of the three markets from the DSCC. Sources said the DSCC was preparing to send the papers.
The three markets — City Plaza (Block A), Nagar Plaza (Block B) and Zaker Market (Block C) — were constructed at Phulbaria in 1988. The first two markets are three-storied with 588 and 649 shops respectively while the other is four-storey with 351 shops.
As the markets have foundations for more floors, the city corporation two years ago decided to add three more floors to the block A and blockB markets and two floors to block C. Subsequently, fresh allotments were given and the construction began.
But the previous administrator rented out the shops amid such development.
“Temporary allotment cannotbegiveninsuchacase. Itistotallyunacceptable,”said DSCC Administrator Jillar Rahman, adding that half the expansion work in the markets had already been done.
He said the temporary allotment had been
cancelled immediately upon the detection of the anomaly. But one of the lessees sued the DSCC over the cancellation. The High Court also suspended construction followingthe petition.
Jillar said the corporation was hopeful of winning the legal battle and would construct the buildings in line with the early allotment immediately after the verdict.
Former administrator Khalilur Rahman claimed that everything had happened behind his back. When it was pointed out that each of the allotment paper bore his signature, he said he did not notice the documents, as they had been checked by other high officials.
He also claimed that when he came to know about the anomaly late in May 2011, he had cancelled the deal.
Immediate past chief estate officer of DSCC, Tazul Islam Prodhan said the
authorities had given temporary allotments, as per the then administrator's wish.
Former Chief Revenue Officer Moniruzzaman said the DSCC had given the allotment to 399 individuals in 2010 and took advance payment in accordance with the law to expand the markets.
The estate department had not asked for their consent before issuing the temporary allotments in April 2011, he added.
Farid Ahmed, general secretary of Shahar Phulbaria Beboshaee Bahumukhi Samabay Samity Ltd, said the cooperative society had paid the DSCC Tk 7 crore in the first instalment on September 9, 2011 and the rest was supposed to be paid in three more instalments.
"The new floors of the block A and block B markets were supposed to be constructed with our money, but the construction tender was not floated in the last
one year," he added.
He said the cooperative society would resort to legal battle and perhaps to demonstrations if the administration took no satisfactory action.
Delowar Hossain, who got rental allotment, said his temporary allotment was like a permanent deal, as the DSCC had asked him to construct the upper floors as per the drawing and design.
He said they would construct each floor by spending Tk 6-7 crore in the next six months and that they had been paying the rental of around Tk 1.8 crore monthly since April 2011.
"Our allotment is still valid as it is not cancelled by the authorities," Delowar claimed last October.
He said since they were spending crores of taka for the markets and constructing expansions, the DSCC would not be able to evict them. But if they did, the cooperative society would go to court.