RAJUK says it has found dissimilarities between the building plan showed by the Faruque Rupayan Tower authorities and the one kept at the capital’s development authority.
The owners of the high-rise on Kamal Ataturk Avenue in Dhaka’s Banani that caught a deadly fire on Thursday had also paid no heed to a notice served last year to install fire safety system, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defence.
SMHI Faruque, an engineer, owns the land on which the 23-storey building was constructed by Rupayan Housing Estate Limited.
They sold the floors to different organisations. Tasvir Ul Islam, the managing director of Quasem Industries, heads a panel of owners that manages the building now.
The FR Tower builders submitted a plan for approval in 1996 and then another in 2005 while starting the construction, according to the RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha).
“There is a drawing of up to the 18th floor. It matches the one in our files. But the 23-storey plan they showed has no similarities with the one we have,” RAJUK Chairman Abdur Rahman said.
One of the four committees formed to investigate the fire incident has been asked to check if the building code was adhered to properly in designing and constructing the office tower.
Rahman said the RAJUK will act against any official found involved with irregularities, if any, in clearing the FR Tower after getting the investigation report.
Debashish Bardhan, a fire service deputy director, said the building lacked fire safety arrangements.
“The tower has an iron fire escape but it was found locked on different floors. We had informed the building authorities about the problems earlier,” he said.
“We had visited the building and made recommendations several times before, but they paid no heed,” the fire service deputy director said, saying that the building had also caught fire over a decade ago.
Mahmud Ove Ohidul Islam, an assistant director at the fire service, said they had offered to inspect the building and make recommendations on implementing a fire safety plan but the FR Tower authorities did not respond.
“We served them with a notice in 2018. But they did not respond. They did not even respond to our call to attend a fire safety orientation programme we organised at Baridhara last year,” he said.
Neither Faruque nor Tasvir took calls for comment on the allegations brought by the RAJUK and the fire service.
Kamal Hossain, an aide to Faruque, said they had not received any notice from the fire service.
“It was served on the owners of the building, not the land. We don’t know anything about it,” he said.
Patwary Jahir Ullah, an advisor to Rupayan, said in 2008 the firm handed the building to the panel of owners that manages it, bdnews24.com reports.
He said Faruque secured the RAJUK’s clearance for an 18-storey building in 1996.
He later signed a contract with Rupayan when he failed to get funds for the construction after building up to the first floor.
“We submitted a new design for a 23-floor building and got it approved by the RAJUK,” Patwary said.
He said he would not show the papers because it was the weekly holiday. “We will be able to show them to you when our offices open (Saturday),” he said.
