Vulnerable halls pose threat to DU resident students
A big patch of crumbling plaster falls off a ceiling in room No. 167 of age-old Surya Sen Hall at Dhaka University, while a resident student studies in his room No. 172 beside a dilapidated wall. Photo: anisur rahman
Photo: Anisur Rahman
Sumon, a student of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University (DU), was sleeping in his room at Surya Sen Hall like other nights, but all of a sudden, he felt that something hard fell on his body causing an injury to his chest.
He woke up and found that it was a piece of crumbling plaster from the vulnerable roof.
Such incidents had occurred at DU several times in the past.
Twenty-five years have passed since the October 15 tragedy when around 39 students and employees of Jagannath Hall died in a roof collapse.
Such incidents may occur again as a large number of students have been residing in vulnerable buildings.
Most of the DU dormitories are age-old, and students three to four times more than their capacity are living there.
For instance, the Surya Sen Hall was initially built for around 575 resident students and later the university administration introduced a system under which another 575 students were allowed to reside there.
But now a total of around 3,500 students have been residing in the hall increasing the vulnerability of the hall.
Resident students of 87-year-old Salimullah Muslim Hall, Shahidullah Hall and Jagannath Hall and 43-year-old Surya Sen Hall and Mohsin Hall have been passing days amid fear of a moderate to strong earthquake.
Moreover, the buildings of some halls have become so old that their walls and roofs are gradually falling apart leaving the students in the midst of a catastrophe.
Repair work of these buildings are seldom carried out and the engineering section of the university do not even know when the lifetime of these buildings would expire and what is the highest capacity of these buildings.
At present, the Sontosh Chandra Bhattacharya Building, popularly known as East Building of Jagannath Hall, a part of Shahidullah Hall and Surya Sen Hall, middle block of Haji Mohammad Mohsin Hall and the Honours Building of Begum Rokeya Hall are at vulnerable stage.
Students residing in these halls told these correspondents that they always remain in tension as the buildings may collapse at any time.
They also said falling of roof plaster on the floor and sometimes on them is a common phenomenon.
In July last year, more than 50 students were injured when they jumped out through the windows following two light tremors that jolted the city.
After the quake the syndicate decided to shift a large number of students to university gymnasium from Mohsin Hall, Jagannath Hall and Honours Building of Rokeya Hall.
Over 800 students of Jagannath Hall are living in a dangerous situation at the East Building which was declared vulnerable to earthquake by an expert team from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and Geology department of DU in 2006.
Although the damaged pillars of the central block of Mohsin Hall were given support by timbers and iron clumps but no permanent repair work has so far been done compelling the students to leave there amidst danger.
The university authorities have decided that the Honours Building of Rokeya Hall would be built afresh after fully demolishing it and sent a scheme to the government in this regard.
The authorities are also constructing a new five-storey building on the Jagannath hall premises to shift students of the East Building, but it would take one year more to accommodate the students there.
DU Vice Chancellor Prof Arefin Siddique said, "A number of buildings at the university is vulnerable and we will form an expert committee involving Buet experts to assess the vulnerability of the buildings to earthquake."
He said students of the damaged parts of Mohsin Hall would be shifted to newly built tin-shed extension.
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