After the building collapse
Md. Monayem Hossain Kalyanpur, Dhaka
We have just watched a building collapse. Seventy-four people died and 97 are missing. I don't know how the families of these 171 people are passing their days. But I tried to think that if I were to lose my son, the pain would have been intolerable. Time passes, we forget, we remember, we forget and then we forget to remember. Can we do something after this tragedy?There is no control over design and construction of any structure in our country. If anybody wants to raise any structure he can act on his own, employing any type of people. What is Rajuk doing? It is approving only the layout plan drawing. Sometimes it is taking the structural drawing not for approval but as a formality. This system cannot guarantee the safety of the structure. The engineers graduating from BUET or any other institute are not qualified for designing any foundation or structure. They should have internship under experienced professional engineers for a definite period of time to learn the design aspects and approach. After successful completion of internship the qualified engineers can design the foundation and structures. Construction also needs experience. Anybody cannot construct a safe structure. There are lots of things to take care of during construction work and the absence of this quality control will make the structure unsafe. From my working knowledge of 17 years after passing from BUET, I am observing that more than 50 per cent buildings under construction in Dhaka city are unsafe in some respect or the other. Sometimes I thought that I should try to draw the attention of the owners and clarify the situation. I think Rajuk is the right authority to take care of it. Rajuk must adopt an action plan to ensure safe designing and construction. Once Rajuk tried to register the list of Architects/ Engineers so that people could avail the services of those engineers for design. But it did not succeed. I don't know why the move failed. Rajuk must do it again and make submission of foundation and structural designs mandatory along with drawing by the registered engineers for any structure. Construction of those structures should comply with the design and should be monitored by the registered engineers. The engineers should have qualification system. If we cannot learn from the lost 74 + 97 lives we may lose many more in future. Look before you leap. Please take this matter seriously.
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