Piling Collapse
Proposed hospital defied locals' safety concerns, say victims
Danger over; pit filling to end Thursday
The authorities of proposed Impulse Hospital in the city's Nakhalapara went on with construction work defying the local residents' safety concerns, affected people said at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.
Md Humayun Kabir, a resident of house no. 243/A/5, while reading out a statement at the conference said the Impulse authorities had disregarded all the concerns of the residents before the Saturday incident.
The protection walls (bracing) of shore piling (digging ground for foundation) failed resulting in collapse of three tin-roofed houses and part of an internal road, and cracks on the adjoining structures including two five-story residential buildings in the early hours of May 21 (Saturday).
A 46-feet pit was dug for the piling.
Islamic Trading Consortium Ltd (ITCL) was doing the groundwork to build a three-layer basement car park for a proposed 14-storey Impulse Medical College and Hospital on a 2.9-acre land in Tejgaon Industrial Area.
ITCL company secretary in a press release yesterday said Impulse authorities had done soil test, shore pile design, and pile construction before ITCL was employed as contractor. Therefore, ITCL was not responsible for shore pile design and the construction, added the release.
Wahidur Rahman, one of the owners of one-story tin-roofed house no. 243/A/11 that caved in the piling pit, said his father built the house with the savings of his [father's] entire life.
"Impulse authorities neglected adequate protective measures in the shore piling," said Rahman. "They were going with construction work very slowly making the adjoining structures vulnerable."
The victims said that though many similar incidents occurred in the capital in the past, none has so far been brought to justice.
The residents demanded appropriate compensation immediately for loss of property and exemplary punishment of the authorities of Impulse Hospital for negligence.
They also demanded restoration of utility connections (gas, water, and power) and broken road and punishment of any officials of Rajdhani Unnyan Kartripakhya (Rajuk) if found to have neglected duty in this respect.
Residents of at least 10 adjoining houses continue to suffer miserably, as the utility connections got snapped with the collapse.
They said the affected families include 10 of the houses that collapsed, 30 of two five-story buildings that were evacuated, and those many who had to leave the houses due to snapped utility connections.
A 60-member team of the army engineering corps mobilised at the noon of May 21 and immediately started filling up the pit.
Major Khijir, who is coordinating the filling up of the piling pit, told The Daily Star that the situation is now safe a great deal.
He said the earth-filling work would be completed by Thursday.
Prof AMM Shafiullah and Prof Syed Fakrul Ameen of civil engineering department of Buet visited the site Monday and pointed at low-quality soil and lack of adequate protection measures in the shore piling works for the incident.
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