Barisal City Corporation sealed a five-storied building after it tilted and leaned to another one at Karim Kutir area of the city Sunday evening.The authority with the help of Civil Defense and Fire Service men removed the residents from the tilted building.
Barisal faced more than one hour-long thunderstorm and downpour of 51.6 millimeter on Sunday morning.
Abdur Rashid, a resident of the area, said the building was developing crack since last few days and from the downpour of Sunday morning it’s tilting to western side becoming more visible created panic in the adjacent areas.
Rezaul Karim, BCC road inspector said that while rounding on city roads at 2:00 pm, he noticed people crowding in front of the building named ‘Sheikh villa’ gossiping about the vulnerable situation of the building which was tilted leaned to another building on its west-side and informed the higher authority.
The officials from BCC, district administration, fire service and police rushed to the spot and found the vulnerable condition of the building.
Then consulting with the concerned authorities we decided to remove all residents from the building immediately and after that sealed its entrance gate, said Israil Hossain, executive magistrate BCC.
Sheikh Jahangir Husain, son of the building owner Sheikh Nurul Islam, claimed their building was not vulnerable and they living in that building since last three years along with 8 tenants like insurance companies and other offices as it were constructed after approving plan from BCC.
Authority without examining our approved construction plan and strength of the structure, ousted us, our tenants and forcibly sealed it, Jahangir claimed.
Motaleb Husain, BCC executive engineer, acknowledged that the five storied building constructed on approved plan. But it was built on filling a pond without sufficient depth of piling and so becoming vulnerable tilted now. The owner has to reconstruct it with strong pilling to making it safe for living.
Mentionable most of the high-rise buildings in Barisal city were constructed without in violation of building construction and civil defense codes, and they night turn into death traps at any moment.
“Thirty percent of the high-rises are under severe threat of accident as they were not constructed following building construction codes,” executive engineer of BCC Motaleb Hossain claimed.
Following the Rana Plaza collapse, BCC formed a five-member team, which has already started drives to detect vulnerable buildings in the city.
The team was formed on April 29 and its latest findings are not reassuring.
To date, 37 buildings that are considered vulnerable have already been identified and concerned departments have been ordered to issue final notice in this regard.
The team has found at least four buildings on Alekanda road, Forester road, Dinobondhu Sen road and N Hosen Road of the city tilted towards another one.
(Source: Our Correspondent)
