Rajuk on demolition spree in three areas

Three teams of Rajuk cleared illegally occupied car parking spaces at over a dozen buildings in Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Uttara in the capital yesterday. 

They also fined building owners and got undertakings from them for removal of the illegal structures occupying parking spaces in the basements and on the ground floors.

The Dhanmondi team penalised the authorities of the State University of Bangladesh on the Mirpur road with a Tk 3 lakh fine for operating an office and a cafeteria on the ground floor, said Md Nasir Uddin, executive magistrate. The university authorities gave an undertaking to remove the structures in two weeks.

The team also fined MK Electronics in Kalabagan for setting up its showroom on the ground floor, he said, and demolished six shops including a restaurant, a fast food shop and a pharmacy at another building in the same area. They also knocked down Cooper's Bakery, an extension of Lazz Pharma and Desh Pharma on the ground floor of Brothers' Mansion, said Nasir.  

Rajuk eviction drive that demolished illegal parts of the structure in the capital's Kalabagan area yesterday. Photo: Amran Hossain

Lazz Pharma is set up on a designated ground floor parking space but they are operating with a High Court stay order, he said.

Meanwhile, the Gulshan team knocked down illegal structures of two buildings near the roundabout-1 and fined the owner of Abacus Restaurant Tk 2 lakh for building the restaurant on the ground floor, instead of an office.

"The owner gave an undertaking to close down the restaurant and other illegal structures in 72 hours," said Rajuk official, Md Adiluzzaman.

They also removed ground floor shops at two other buildings on the avenue and fined another building owner Tk 1 lakh for a similar offence and dismantled two different access ramps built illegally occupying footpaths and road width.

Khandokar Zakir Hossain, executive magistrate, who led the mobile court for the Uttara drive, said they knocked down illegal structures at two buildings in the sector-4 area, a ground floor sweets shop of Sea Shell restaurant, a tyre shop and a pharmacy.

They also partially demolished some illegal structures on the ground floor of Samsung's showroom and Al-Arafah Islami Bank and gave a 10-day ultimatum to remove the rest of the structures including an ATM booth, he said.

Rajuk launched the drives simultaneously in Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Uttara on January 18 in a bid to recover designated basement parking lots and remove illegal access ramps built occupying footpaths and road width.