Sacked Rajuk officials approve designs!

Three authorised officers of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), who had been terminated for unlawful acts, reportedly still arrange approval for faulty building designs on backdates for money, Rajuk sources said.

These unauthorised approvals by people outside the Rajuk contribute to confusion as to which designs are actually approved by Rajuk, added the sources.

The Rajuk authorities could not yet take further actions against the three. In January this year, they sent the three officers' files to the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) requesting them to take necessary steps, the sources added.

Rajuk, the city planners, had sacked the three -- ASM Asaduzzaman, ATM Quamruz-zaman and Md Ziaul Haq -- for illegally approving designs and plans of buildings in the capital.

According to the Rajuk sources, those authorised officers used to pass the faulty designs of different buildings in exchange of money. Original copies of the designs they passed do not exist in the Rajuk office. So far as many as 200 such cases, some of which involve a number of reputed high-rise buildings, have been detected. The real figure however would be much higher, added the sources.

Those files were either stolen from the office or the officers did not maintain the files because they had to do with unauthorised approval of building designs, said the sources.

Engineer Shahid Alam, chairman of Rajuk, told The Daily Star recently that they have heard about those terminated officials signing faulty plans.

"When our inquiry officers go to check building designs, some owners still show designs signed by the three. So, we guess they are continuing signing faulty designs on backdates violating the building code," said the chairman. "We, however, don't know yet what really is happening," he said adding that inadequate manpower does not allow them to check out design of every single structure.

When contacted, ATM Quamruzzaman, one of the terminated officers, denied the allegation, and said it was totally fabricated.

"I left the design section in 1999, and was sacked from Rajuk in July 2003. How can I still have the authority to pass designs, and who would come to me for this purpose," he questioned.

Referring to his termination and the missing of about 200 files, he said that he was cornered, and the action [disciplinary] against him was politically motivated.

"When I left the design section I handed over the charge to someone else. Nobody raised any question at that time, but later in 2003 they sacked me for file grafting. It is simply ridiculous," he said.

"It needs an approval from the building committee to pass a design and the authorised officer alone cannot pass that," he added.

One Rajuk official said as the 200 files are still missing it is hard to confirm whether the suspected designs were signed during the service periods of those three or not.

ATM Quamruzzaman was sacked in July 2003 while Asaduzzaman and Ziaul Haq in June and December 2002.