The Rajdhani Unnyan Kartipakkha has submitted its probe report to its chairman, overlooking the responsibility of its own development control wing in the recent fire incident at the Green Cozy Cottage building on the capital鈥檚 Bayley Road.
The report blamed Dhaka South City Corporation for issuing trade licences to four restaurants and a business entity without following Rajuk鈥檚 approved design and occupancy certificate.
The report said that the Fire Service and Civil Defence had given clearance to one of these restaurants without checking Rajuk鈥檚 approved design and occupancy certificate.
The probe report was submitted to the Rajuk chairman in early April.
Rajuk formed a seven-member probe committee, headed by its member for development control, Mohammad Abdul Ahad, on March 1, following the incident of fire on February 29 that killed 46 people.
The committee was asked to submit the report within seven working days, but it took more than a month to complete it.
鈥楻ajuk鈥檚 development control wing could not avoid its responsibility of checking whether the building use was deviated or not,鈥� Bangladesh Institute of Planners president Adil Mohammed Khan told 抖阴精品.
A person may not take an occupancy certificate, but the regulator must enforce it. In this case, Rajuk is the enforcing authority, he added.
By giving clean chit to its own in the probe report, he said, Rajuk proved once again that good governance could not be ensured in the organisation.
Asked about Rajuk鈥檚 responsibility, the organisation鈥檚 chief town planner and spokesperson, Ashraful Islam, acknowledged its liability.
鈥楻ajuk served notices to the building and fined them through mobile court in 2019,鈥� he said.
鈥榊ou can ask what Rajuk has done in the past four years. Rajuk mainly focused on design and construction. It is difficult for Rajuk to oversee construction due to a shortage of manpower,鈥� Ashraf told 抖阴精品.
According to Ashraf, 500 buildings had occupancy certificates among the 7,500 constructed buildings under Rajuk鈥檚 jurisdiction.
鈥榃e have taken the initiative to check the building use deviation through a third party as Rajuk does not have enough manpower,鈥� he added.
DSCC chief executive officer Mizanur Rahman said that he would not comment on the probe report as Rajuk had already given its judgement.