Five garment factories closed over 'cracks' in building

Five garment factories in the city's Mohammadpur area were closed yesterday after 'cracks' were detected in the building that houses the apparel units.
When workers came to the factories at Saat Masjid Super Market in the morning, security guards barred them from entering the building that developed cracks in a pillar on the second floor.
Police later locked all the gates of the of the six-storey building that houses around 130 shops on the ground floor and the five garment factories on the rest.
The authorities responded fast as more than 200 people died in a building collapse in Savar on Wednesday mainly due to negligence towards a warning.
However, shopkeepers and businesses in the building alleged that the aides of the building owner did damage to the pillar deliberately and spread the rumour to evict them.
Shamsher Ali, a leader of the shopkeepers, said:
"The owner wants to make a new building here by evicting us illegally."
Owner Seraj Uddin Ahamed leased the land from the government in 1981 and made the building.
He said the building developed some cracks following an earthquake last year.
"I want to rebuild it to avert any accident," he said by phone, adding that the cracks became bigger recently.
M Emdadul Islam, chief engineer of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, visited the spot yesterday but said the cracks did not seem risky.
They will conduct an inspection and till then the factories will remain closed, he said.