DIPAN NANDY

On May 19, a group of hackers reportedly infiltrated the Electronic Construction Permitting System (ECPS), the server of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), and illegally obtained approval for a building. From the following day, Rajuk suspended all activities of the ECPS.

Even after two months, the server remains offline. As a result, all types of services under Rajuk have come to a standstill. From design approvals to land use clearance, no services are currently being provided -- not even general information.

Rajuk authorities claim they have sought technical advice from the Bangladesh Computer Council to fix the server errors, but no response has been received yet. As a result, they have not been able to restart the server and are now considering launching manual citizen services.

The breach occurred on May 19, when a group infiltrated the ECPS server. Within 17 minutes, a building was approved. The 15-storey, 185-unit building, located in a wetland and height-restricted area, had previously been denied approval. The group managed to get the building’s design approved. A month later, police conducted a raid in Motijheel and arrested three individuals linked to the incident.

When this reporter visited the Rajuk building on Sunday, Sirajul Islam, a resident of Pallabi in the capital, said, “We’ve been coming to Rajuk for nearly one and a half months for a design approval, but we haven’t received any solution. Even the officials don’t know when this issue will be resolved.”

Mohammad Ali, another resident from Basabo, said, “My building’s approval was stuck for six months. This problem has already added two more months to the delay.”

Several Rajuk officials mentioned that every day, people come to Rajuk to find out when the server will be operational again, but they cannot give them any clear answer.

In areas under Rajuk’s jurisdiction, land use clearance and construction approval are required before constructing any building. Previously, this was done through a manual process. In 2016, Rajuk began its online operations on a limited scale, starting with land use clearance in only one of its eight zones. By 2018, online land use clearance was expanded to all zones. In May 2019, Rajuk officially began issuing both land use clearance and construction permits online.

To perform these tasks online, a specific website is used. Citizens must register on the site and apply for land use clearance and construction approval. They must upload all necessary documents, including building designs. After verification and necessary processing, the approved land use certificate and building design are uploaded to the website. Users can then download the documents and begin construction.

Rajuk’s server had previously been hacked on December 6, 2023. It took 17 days to regain control, which happened on December 21. Upon inspection, Rajuk found that 30,000 files were missing from the server. These files belonged to applicants who had submitted for construction approval between May 2019 and December 6, 2022. The matter escalated to the High Court.

An HC bench comprising Justice Nazrul Islam and Justice Khizir Hayat asked the then Rajuk chairman, Anisur Rahman Miah, to explain the disappearance of the 30,000 files within 30 days. While Rajuk claimed to have the files stored on a hard disk, On the

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