Facta, non verba
The public has been so accustomed to hearing empty assurances from government servants and political leaders that the common man feels easily disposed to dismiss any new pledge out of hand, because as sure as not, in most cases such words in the past had eventually turned out to be hollow. Our comments have been prompted by the recent remarks of the minister for housing and public works to the reporters that he doesn't want the city to become a concrete jungle and that no violation of the building code would be tolerated no matter how influential the violators are, and corruption would be rooted out. His sentiments certainly resonate with the law-abiding public.
We welcome the resolve of the minister and have no doubt that he has all the good intentions of seeing to it that breaches of law and disregard for rules and regulations are dealt with harshly. But it is a tall order and there are some objective realities that confront the minister that he ought to address immediately.
There are two parties in the issue. One is the builder cum owner of the building and the other is the approving and oversight authority, in this case RAJUK for the capital. And a cursory look at every one of the nearly 2,000 buildings that have been inspected so far by Rajuk and found to have violated the building code would reveal the connivance between the builder and Rajuk.
How can a multi-storied building go up violating the rules without Rajuk ever noting it? We wonder how a faulty building can be occupied without getting clearance certificate that involve more than one agency? All of the said buildings had shortcomings and should have not have been allowed to be occupied in the first place. This partnership in misdeed must be stopped immediately by taking the severest action against both parties. If corruption is to be rooted out, it should start from all the government agencies involved in the process. We hope that the minister's words would be followed up by deeds.
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