Rajuk from January 18 is going to start a drive against buildings in Uttara, Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani areas that use their designated parking space for other purposes.

A survey on such buildings in the areas has already been done, said an official of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha.

“We are going to conduct the drive simultaneously in four areas -- Uttara, Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani -- to clear the parking spaces,” said Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, one of the authorised officers of Rajuk.

He said they in the first phase would conduct the drive to free the parking spaces and the ramps constructed on footpath by the building owners.

Mizan said the drive would continue until the job was done and then they would go after residential buildings being used for commercial purposes.

The decision for the drive and to demolish structures on parking spaces was made at a meeting chaired by Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain at his office.

Dhaka city corporations would also not issue any trade licenses for businesses in those areas.

Mizan said around 60 percent buildings of Uttara, Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani were not using their designated parking spaces and were using them for shops, restaurants, offices, and clinics.

During the drive, representatives of Dhaka Wasa, DPDC, and the city corporations would be present alongside policemen.

Three executive magistrates of Rajuk would conduct the drives, he said.

Gulshan, Banani, Uttara, and Dhanmondi, which are supposed to be a serene posh neighbourhoods, have virtually lost their grandeur due to illegal commercialisation, as Rajuk have been silent, said locals.

Powerful businessmen were altering residential buildings and using residential plots of land to run luxury hotels, hospitals, restaurants, corporate offices, shops, beauty parlours and bars, they said.

Housing ministry top officials termed such commercialisation illegal and blamed Rajuk for its inaction and, in cases, its complicity in the illegal act for the situation.

“Roads clogged with illegally-parked vehicles of businesses, unwanted crowd, overwhelming traffic, and deafening noise late into the night are just some of the things that have made our residential life unbearable,” said Manzoor Hossain, a resident of Gulshan.

Commercial businesses on residential plots is a gross violation of the master plan for the capital, Town Improvement Act, Building Construction Act, and building rules, said an official of the Department of Architecture.

Commercialisation of a residential neighbourhood gravely harms social, cultural, and emotional development of children, he claimed.