Rajuk moves to demolish BGMEA Bhaban illegally built on Hatirjheel canal

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha or RAJUK has moved to demolish the BGMEA Bhaban after Supreme Court ordered that the “cancerous” building constructed illegally on a water body at Hatirjheel in Dhaka be razed down.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 16 April 2019, 05:04 AM
Updated : 16 April 2019, 08:18 PM

The capital’s development agency took control of the 15-storey building and sealed it off on Tuesday evening after its occupants removed their stuff throughout the day. 

RAJUK officials sealed off the illegally constructed BGMEA building at Hatirjheel in Dhaka on Tuesday for demolition after the occupants removed their stuff.

RAJUK engineers will check the building on Wednesday to decide how and when the building will be dismantled, Hatirjheel Project Director and RAJUK Chief Engineer ASM Raihanul Ferdous told the media on Tuesday night.   

RAJUK officials arrived at the site in the morning, accompanied by a large posse of law enforcement as the court deadline for the demolition passed on Apr 12. 

“Our bulldozers and other vehicles are ready to start the demolition job,” Khandaker Waliur Rahman, director (administration) in RAJUK, told bdnews24.com.

Khandaker Waliur Rahman, a Rajuk director, speaks to the media after asking the authorities of different organisations to vacate the BGMEA headquarters built illegally on the Hatirjheel canal on Tuesday.

“The building houses the offices for at least 19 organisations. We have asked them to shift their belongings now,” he said.

“This is part of the demolishment work. It will take some time to shift their stuff as there are many offices in the building. We’ll begin to dismantle the building once they shift their stuff,” he added.

Trucks loaded with furniture and other things were seen leaving the site until evening.

The gas, power, water, telephone and other utility connections to the building will be cut off before the start of the demolition, Wailiur said.

The authorities will use “modern technology” to demolish the building, according to him. “It could be dynamites or other means used to demolish the building.”

The authorities of several organisations shifting their goods from the 15-storey BGMEA headquarters on Tuesday as Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, the city developing agency, moves to demolish the building constructed illegally on the Hatirjheel canal.

The authorities of several organisations shifting their goods from the 15-storey BGMEA headquarters on Tuesday as Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, the city developing agency, moves to demolish the building constructed illegally on the Hatirjheel canal.

Several workers had died in the collapse of the parts of the Rangs Tower, a high-rise at Tejgaon, during demolition 12 years ago.

Recalling the incident, Raihanul said RAJUK will be on “maximum alert” this time and take help of Chinese engineers.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association or BGMEA has now built another building, a 13-storey one on a 1.81-acre land at Uttara, as its headquarters after getting several extensions from the court to shift.

While opening the new building last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she had asked the garment industry lobby to not build its headquarters on the water body in Hatirjheel adjacent to Sonargaon Hotel during her 1996-2000 tenure.

In 2011, the High Court ordered the structure to be taken down as it found the building had been constructed in violation of laws meant to protect wetlands.

“The BGMEA Bhaban is like a cancer in the Hatirjheel project and if the building is not taken down immediately, it will infect not just Hatirjheel but the entire Dhaka City,” the court said in its verdict.

It also said the reason behind “sparing a certain influential quarter with strong financial support beyond the reach of the law is completely unacceptable”.

The full verdict was available two years later, when the BGMEA moved the Appellate Division against the ruling.

On Jun 2, 2016, the Supreme Court turned down the petition and upheld the High Court's verdict.