Residents worry over tilted buildings

Scenes of tilted buildings, residents being evacuated and owners facing financial losses, have become a regular occurrence in some areas of the port city.

Over the last two years, several structures collapsed during re-excavation of nearby canals, including two buildings, a place of worship, and a tin-shed house in Majirghat area nearby Gulzar canal in December 2021, while a four-storied building tilted in Sholoshohor area near Chasma canal in January.

Bangladesh Army's 34 Engineering Construction Brigade has been implementing the project under the Chattogram Development Authority. They are re-excavating around 36 canals to improve drainage systems across the city.

"Korshed Alam constructed the building near a canal without leaving at least 12 feet of space as per the Building Construction Act"

On Saturday, residents of five buildings in Shahid Nagar of Chattogram city's Bayazid area were evacuated after a building in the area tilted during re-excavation work of a nearby canal.

"My building tilted on Saturday (November 25) night during digging of a nearby canal. Now, I am being forced to demolish the building bearing financial loss," said Korshed Alam, owner of the four-storied Korshed Mansion in Shahid Nagar.

After the incident, a team of firefighters evacuated around 100 families from five buildings in the area, including Korshed Mansion.

Visiting Shahid Nagar area recently, this correspondent saw many residents of the evacuated buildings still waiting there while some had already left for relatives' houses.

"We are forced to shift to a relative's house. I could not go to the office as I had to collect some important things from my house," said Noman Ahmed, a resident of the tilted building.

Lt Col Md Shah Ali, director of the CDA project, said they instructed building owners near the canals to protect their assets before the works started, but some of them did not pay heed.

"We are now working to place steel sheets at the canal's bank for constructing retaining walls," he added.

WAS IT AVOIDABLE?

"These mishaps could have been avoided if steel sheets were piled around these risky buildings as it can protect those from subsidence," said Md Delwar Hossain Mazumdar, former chairman of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB).

"Korshed Alam constructed the building near a canal without leaving at least 12 feet of space as per the Building Construction Act," said Kazi Hasan Bin Shams, CDA chief engineer.

Korshed, however, claimed he constructed the building maintaining all existing laws.

Meanwhile, the district administration has formed a seven-member committee to investigate the incident.