Punish sternly people using bamboo for iron
This malpractice
of the contracting firm or people involved has to be stopped urgently
It is disconcerting to note that bamboos instead of iron rods were used in the construction of a new building of the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in violation of building laws. This is not for the first time we get news about this kind of violation of building construction. On April 3 an engineer was suspended because he used bamboo instead of rod for the construction of a new building of the Department of Agricultural Extension at Darshana in Chuadangas Damurhuda upazila.
This trend of using bamboo instead of rod among certain contractors specially in building government facilities has raised eyebrows among the people at large. These contractors moral level has gone down so low that for saving some undue money, they are not caring a little that their action can inevitably spell disaster taking lives of people. An earthquake prone country, Bangladesh hardly can afford to allow this kind of obnoxious practice of the constructors.
Even when bamboos are not used, contractors of the government projects in collusion with the government engineers often do not use the required amount of cement or rod for building crucial government structures which make them weak and do not last for the time as planned, even though the government spends sufficient money for the purpose.
In some cases, as the project is delayed, governments budget for it increases unusually. This means the country is not getting the return of the money spent in building construction.
Now it goes without saying that this malpractice of the contracting firm or people involved has to be stopped urgently. The government has to take a tough stand in this regard. Any violation of the building law should be meted out with punishment and the license of the guilty firm has to be cancelled. A country with limited resources, Bangladesh cannot afford to ignore dangerous slips of the constructing firms.
As for the violation of the building law in RMCHs new building, according to report of this newspaper, a three-member committee headed by RMCH blood transfusion medicine departments Prof. Mosaddek Hossain has been formed to investigate the matter. Two Public Works Department (PWD) officials have also been included in the investigation team.
It is worth mentioning that this building that cost RMCH Tk 30 crore was duly supervised by the PWD eight years ago. It is expected that the team would come with the real picture about what happened during the time of the buildings construction and punish the person(s) responsible for the use of bamboo in place of rod.
