Bangladesh News

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha tore down the outer glass walls of the top four floors of 10-storey Jamuna Future Park Shopping Complex yesterday.

Even though the Rajuk eviction team was supposed to demolish the illegally-built four floors, it just broke the glass walls from 10th floor down to seventh, a small number of the partition walls on seventh floor, and called it a day. It did not touch any other part of the unauthorised four floors.

Rajuk launched the demolition drive of the upper four floors of the shopping complex at the city’s Joar Sahara (Bashundhara), a day after the High Court summarily rejected a writ petition challenging Rajuk’s demolition notice issued against the shopping complex.

The demolition team, led by Executive Magistrate Rokon-Ud-Doula and comprising Rajuk director (development control), four authorised officers and a number of building inspectors, stopped at 1:00pm.

Rajuk Director (development control) Sheikh Abdul Mannan said, “We have just started the drive today [yesterday] and we stopped it since we are not adequately prepared.”

He said he got the demolition order only the night before.

Asked whether it was merely a symbolic demolition, Mannan said, “We have just started the drive, why do you ask so many questions?”

Rokon-Ud-Doula said, “We started the demolition of the illegally-built floors as per Building Construction Act since the building owner failed to comply with Rajuk notices.

“We will carry on with the demolition drive unless the court orders us to stop.”

He said barrister Rafiqul Huq, counsellor for Jamuna Group, called him and said he had filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the HC order and requested him stop the drive.

Asked if this was the reason for them to stop the demolition for the day, he replied in the negative. The drive is scheduled to continue today and tomorrow.

A team of armed but plainclothes policemen code named Jamini of Badda Police Station positioned themselves at the main gate of the complex around 9:30am and barred employees of the complex from entering. Additional Deputy Commissioner of police Md Monir Hossain led the police force of over 100 personnel. The demolition team entered the premises around 9:45am.

Rajuk had around 50 hired labourers to do the demolition manually.

Rokon-Ud-Doula moved the demolition team to the top floor of the building and the demolition began around 10:30am.

Rajuk authorised officers Aminul Islam Suman and Khalequzzaman Chowdhury among other Rajuk officials were assigned to coordinate the demolition drive and help designated Rajuk officer for the area Shafiqul Islam conduct the demolition.

However, a few Rajuk officials were seen making frantic efforts to keep the demolition labourers from hitting anything apart from the outer glass walls yesterday. They appeared more interested in staging the demolition act for the electronic media.

Sheikh Abdul Mannan, authorised officer Khalequzzaman Chowdhury and Rajuk Chief Building Inspector Nazrul Alam were seen reprimanding labourers for attempting to demolish structures inside the illegally-built floors. The team started the drive on the 10th floor of the building and hurriedly came down to the ninth floor and to the eighth in the same manner.

Rajuk in its final notice dated January 13 asked Messrs Jamuna Builders, which built Jamuna Future Park Shopping Complex, to demolish the unauthorised top four floors within seven days.

The notice mentioned that the owner has built a 10-storey building even though it has an approved design for six stories.

The shopping complex authorities filed the writ petition on January 17 challenging the Rajuk notice, which the HC rejected.

According to Rajuk documents, Jamuna Builders has approved design for a building six-storey high and three basement floors but it has built two towers with additional four floors on an area of 2,470 square metres of the structure.

On January 18, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner wrote to Rajuk to take action against Jamuna Future Park Shopping Complex for constructing the building without clearance from the traffic department.

Jamuna Group Managing Director Shamim Islam yesterday filed an application to the Rajuk appellate authorities, which they were supposed to do before going to the court.

The group in an unsigned statement yesterday claimed that Rajuk authorities vandalised the shopping complex and damaged properties worth “several crore”. It also claimed that Rajuk did not allow them time despite their appeal following the HC rejection of their writ petition.