Scores work in unfit bldg amid life risk

With large cracks and fallen out plasters, Sirajganj District Registrar's Office poses risk of serious accident for the staff and visitors.Photo: STAR

Main functions of Sirajganj District Registrar's Office are going on in a dilapidated two-storied building, much to the risk for the staff as well as visitors.
A Public Work Department (PWD) notice mentioning the building as 'abandoned and unfit for living' has been hanging in the building since March 1, 2005.
The building, now used as record room and storeroom of the office, may collapse anytime as many large cracks have developed on it and different parts of the building have already fallen.
Around 50 years ago, the district administration leased the two-storied building on 55 decimals of land on Mujib Road in Sirajganj town for use as District Registrar's Office after it was abandoned by its Hindu owners, sources said.
During a recent visit, this correspondent saw about 100 people including staff of the registrar's office and visitors working in three rooms on the ground floor of the building.
Important files are also getting damaged due to proper maintenance facilities in the damp rooms.
District Registrar Mirza Mohammad Atahar, who with some of his colleagues sits at a safe building nearby, said, “We have been looking for a suitable place to shift the whole office but have failed to get one.”
A reliable source said some influential officials, who are inhabitants of the town, are not interested to shift the office from the old building as they are trying to occupy the land and building illegally. They are also earning money by renting some rooms to local poor people.
When contacted, PWD Executive Engineer Jibon Krisna Saha said, “The risky building is being used in defiance of our notice.”
“The district administration has already sanctioned a suitable place for the district registrar's office. We do not know why they are not setting up their office on that land,” Sirajganj Deputy Commissioner Humayun Kabir said.
Meanwhile, locals have urged the government to repair and preserve the old building.