Ctg court building needs repair to save lives

A part of the corridor has collapsed in front of the office of Public Prosecutor Enamul Hoque on the first floor of Chittagong Court Building, left, and the dilapidated court Bhaban, right.Photo: STAR

The renovation of century-old Chittagong Court building remained stalled for over one year as the contracting firm has failed to complete the work on schedule.
Public Works Department (PWB) started the work for renovation of the three-storey building and restoration of its original state as well as construction of another four-storey building in November in 2005.
But, the authorities concerned cancelled the work order and floated a fresh tender in this regard due to expiry of the scheduled one-year time for completion of the work.
Under the situation the half-demolished court building now lies in a most dilapidated condition, posing a threat of serious accident at any time.
Around 5,000 judges, magistrates, lawyers, court officials and staffs and over 10,000 litigants stay during office hours at the hilltop court building in the city centre built in 1892.
Sitting on the panoramic Parir Pahar, the building was the largest structure of the undivided Bengal.
But, for lack of initiative for conservation of the building for years caused it to develop cracks on almost every wall and floor.
The building houses offices of chief metropolitan magistrate, metropolitan magistrate, metropolitan judge, district and sessions judge, divisional special judge, joint district judge, two public prosecutor (PP) -- metropolitan and district --, different court rooms, copy rooms, ledger rooms, family court, forest and environment court, district record room, court jail, government record officer (GRO) sections (district and metropolitan), AC prosecution's office, court inspector's office, two common rooms of Chittagong District Bar Association and several offices of concerned personal assistants, stenos and others.
PWD sources said originally it was a two-storey building until construction of the 'mismatching' second floor on it in 1953.
With a complete different design and form, the second floor not only destroyed the aesthetic setting but also brought about the ruin of the court building, said Sub-assistant Engineer Pradip Barua at PWD Division-1.
Growth of fungus and leakages and seepage of rainwater damaged the floors of stone tiles when overuse made the wooden staircases decayed and worn out.
Dampness caused the plaster come off exposing the reinforcement of the roof slabs, said the engineer.
Serious accident may occur at any moment on the veranda in front of the district public prosecutor's office on the first floor where a large crack developed.
Lawyers urged the adviser for ministry of works to look into the matter and to take measures for immediate start of the renovation work so that the lives of judges, lawyers, litigants and others are not endangered.
“Water seeps through the ceilings and pour into the rooms during heavy rain, damaging important documents on the floors,” said PP Enamul Hoque.
Sheikh Iftekher Saimul Chowdhury, general secretary of Chittagong District Bar Association, said the court building is now in danger as the upper roofs and floors are in bad shape.
Mahbubul Hoque, a businessman and a frequent visitor to the building, said he prays to god for protection when he enters the building.
In 1985, Public Works Department (PWD) declared the building unable for use and suggested in its 'project concept paper' to demolish the original building.
But vigorous campaign and agitation by different forums of professional groups like Forum for Planned Chittagong (FPC), District Bar Association and political parties forced the authorities to overturn the decision to demolish the court building, said the then general secretary of Chittagong District Bar Association Advocate Akhter Kabir Chowdhury.
Besides, the district court issued an injunction against vacation of premises and demolition of the building in July in 2001, sources said.
On October 2001, a writ petition was submitted to the High Court division that led to the imposition of rule nisi on the government against the demolition.
A Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) survey in 2002 recommended to conserve and renovate the old building, demolish the 2nd floor built in 1953 and construct a new building.
PWD started the renovation work and construction of a four-storied new building under a project titled 'Construction of New Court Building, Chittagong' in November 2005.
But, the contractor firm ICC Limited could not complete the work within the scheduled one-year time, said a senior PED official preferring anonymity.
The firm was fined Tk 98 lakh in this regard, he said.
Executive Engineer Abul Hashem of PWD Division-1 said they have already demolished 75 per cent of the DC-block (middle portion) on the 2nd floor of the original building while partial construction of the new building has been done.
He said PWD floated two fresh tenders on 'Remaining work for construction of New Court Building at Chittagong including Electrical, sanitary and water supply arrangement' and 'Renovation and Restoration of Middle Block of Court Building, including electrical, sanitary and water supply arrangement' on October 9 and October 29 this year.
But nothing could be learned about opening of the two tenders.