Land subsides again at Karwan Bazar

Land subsided for the second time in two days at the excavation site of an under-construction building near the Karwan Bazar intersection yesterday.

Witnesses said that around 10pm, another portion of the Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road – a few yards north of the spot where land subsided Wednesday morning – caved into the excavation site with a loud bang.

In the process, a part of a wall, several billboards and trees, a portion of the pavement and an electricity pole also fell into the excavation site.

Dhaka Tribune’s Abu Hayat Mahmud reports that the subsidence put one half of the road leading from Karwan Bazar to Panthapath at risk. The authorities stopped vehicular movement on this half of the road, leaving the other half – adjacent to the Basundhara City Shopping Mall – open for vehicles.

A security cordon was put in place beside the tiger sculpture, making the mouth of the Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road fully off limits for people and vehicles as hundreds of curious people gathered near the spot of the accident.

Mohammad Iqbal, OC of the Kalabagan police station, told Dhaka Tribune’s Kamrul Hasan that they had made the nearby road off limits in order to prevent further subsidence due to vibrations created by moving vehicles.

Right after the subsidence, several areas in the city went out of cable TV connectivity.

Maqsud Hossain, managing director of cable TV service provider United Communication Service, told the Dhaka Tribune that some of their fibre cables got severed in the second land subsidence.

“As a result several areas in the city including Sutrapur and Kotowali in old Dhaka and Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Mirpur in Dhaka north got out of cable TV service,” he said.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul Huq came to the spot around 10:45pm.

He told reporters: “We are trying our best to prevent any further subsidence of land. We have been dumping sand and soil at the excavation hole and have managed to eliminate 50% of the risk that the building of Hotel Sundarban was at.”

He also assured the local residents to not panic, saying there was nothing more to worry about.

Yesterday afternoon, workers at the site of the under-construction building of the National Bank Limited (NBL) removed a generator after several cracks developed in the wall that separate the site from the Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road. A part of the road also sank is few feet at that time.

At a press briefing in the morning, Buet Professor Saiful Amin warned that the excavation hole must be fully filled up in the quickest possible time, otherwise the surrounding areas would also be at risk of subsiding.

Around 7:30am on Wednesday, heavy rain caused a 15-feet alley between the construction site and the Hotel Sundarban to subside into the excavation hole. In no time, a portion of the Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road also subsided into the construction site taking along several trees, electricity polls, tea stalls and rickshaw vans.

Another Buet Professor Mehedi Ahmed Ansary said a previous recommendation of using at least 1,500 truckload of sand to temporarily save the hotel had gone unheard.

The small amount of sand that was now being used to fill the void left by the subsidence meant that a heavy downpour might cause the hotel building to collapse at any time. If Hotel Sundarban collapses, it would put the nearby high-rise buildings and adjacent roads under threat, the Buet teacher warned.

Around 500 truckload of sand has so far been dumped at the site following a decision by a committee comprising representatives of the army, fire service, city corporation, Rajuk and other authorities concerned.

City planners and specialists have been blaming the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and the contractors of the under-construction building for the incident.

Although the sand-filling process was due to be completed by yesterday afternoon, the Dhaka Tribune found that only around one-fifth of the work had been done by the evening.

Army’s help sought

The city authorities have sought the army’s assistance at the site of the Karwan Bazar land subsidence because of slow progress in land filling to save the building of Hotel Sundarban, put at risk.

Dhaka north Mayor Annisul Huq said the city corporation has sent a letter to the ministry concerned, seeking help from the army to prevent any further damage at site where the National Bank Limited’s twin towers are being constructed.

“The ministry concerned has already cleared the proposal after we sent a letter seeking the army’s help,” he said.

The mayor yesterday phoned the construction firm owner, Mohammad Salauddin, and rebuked him for not supplying the necessary amount of sand following the land subsidence at his construction site.

The mayor further warned Salahuddin: “If an accident occurs now because of the rain, we will hold you responsible.”

The general manager of the hotel, Md Wazed Ali, yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the hotel has suffered losses nearing Tk100cr following the incident, while the reputation of the popular establishment has also been harmed. He added that the hotel authorities plan to file a case against the construction company.

Meanwhile, Rajuk itself filed a case yesterday with the Kalabagan police station against NBL twin tower Project Director Akhtarul Alam, MS Construction CEO Md Salauddin, and NBL Deputy Director Nazir Uddin Bhuiya, confirmed the station’s officer-in-charge, Md Iqbal.

However, a three-member committee that was formed by Rajuk soon after the incident – failed to submit its report yesterday.

Insiders said the probe body was working in a relaxed pace as the city corporation had formed a probe committee of its own.

Despite repeated phone calls yesterday, Rajuk Chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan and Additional Charge of Planning Md Abdur Rahman could not be reached for comments.