Meanwhile, the dispute over how much of the building should remain standing, 60 feet or the bottom six floors, was settled yesterday. The authorities decided to demolish the top 16 floors only.

"We have invited tenders today and the work would be awarded through competitive bidding at the earliest possible time," said a high official of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) yesterday preferring anonymity.

The Rajuk official told The Daily Star that a private agency, that wins the tender, and Rajuk would work together to speed up the demolition work of the 16 floors.

An evaluation meeting on the demolition of Rangs Bhaban, chaired by secretary to the public works ministry, was held at the Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday noon.

Rajuk officials at the meeting informed the ministry about the current situation and development of the demolition work, meeting sources said. The Rajuk, however, is yet to finalise the strategy and method of carrying out the mammoth task.

"I was ordered to demolish the structure from the sixth floor upwards and we have demolished all internal things on three floors, from seventh to ninth. We have completed the work of making holes in eight floors," said Rajuk Magistrate ASM Emdadud Dastagir.

About 50 Rajuk workers started the demolition work around 9:00am yesterday and continued drilling through the ceilings and floors until 5:00pm. The holes are being made using five drill-hammers so that rubbles could be dropped from upper floors to lower floors and be removed from the building by a crane.

"I do not know how the main structure of the building would be demolished," Emdadud added.

A Rajuk source said the number of drill-hammers would be increased and they would contact contractors or private agencies to supply more drill-hammers.

Employees of Rangs Bhaban yesterday were seen removing materials from different floors including the fifth floor where Rankon Engineering is housed.

Many pieces of furniture and other materials were still seen piled up on different floors of the building and the normal office activities on the first to fourth floor were stalled due to the demolishing activities.

As only two lifts of the building are running, it was hard for the employees of the building to bring down heavy materials from upper floors to the ground.

A dispute had developed earlier between Rajuk and the building authorities over how much of the building would remain.

Rajuk had said they would demolish all the floors over 60 feet of the building, fifth floor and upwards, while the building authorities said the Supreme Court (SC) ordered destruction of the upper 16 floors of the building.

Meanwhile, public relations officer of Rangs Group Muzammel Haque Mridul complained that the building is being demolished in an unplanned way, posing a threat to people working in the first six floors.

SC TURNS DOWN STAY PLEA
The SC yesterday turned down Rangs Group's plea for a stay on the Appellate Division ruling that declared the construction of Rangs Bhaban beyond its sixth floor illegal, UNB reports.

Chamber Judge M Hassan Ameen passed the order, following an application moved by Rangs Group counsellor, seeking stay on the operation of Thursday's SC verdict.

He sought the breather to file a review petition after getting the certified copy of the verdict.

The chamber judge, however, referred the matter for hearing to a regular bench of the Appellate Division.

Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, counsel for Rangs, told UNB that the application would come up on the list for hearing as usual.

On August 2, the SC in its orders overruled the High Court judgment given seven years ago that had declared valid the construction of the Rangs Bhaban.