The illegally built shops at Fortune Shopping Mall at Mouchak leave no room for pedestrians who want to go straight and not cross the street. Photo: Amran Hossain
Some directors of Fortune Shopping Mall at Mouchak have been building 11 shops that encroach on the pavement of one of the busiest intersections in the capital. The constructions have clearly deviated from the “approved design” of the building.
The structures are clearly choking the pavement near the Mouchak footbridge, said Abul Hossain, a pedestrian.
Global Engineers and Developers Ltd, the construction company for the 15-storey shopping arcade, was erecting the shops for some directors of Fortune Shopping Mall, said an office staff of Fortune Shop Owners’ Association.
Interestingly, eight out of 11 directors of Fortune Shopping Mall are also directors of Global Engineers and Developers Ltd.
Afsar Uddin, authorised officer of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, said the shops were illegal and an approved layout design of the building would not have allowed such a bizarre provision for shops.
He said, “We served two notices upon the builder asking for the building’s approved layout design but it did not respond.
The pavement has been significantly narrowed down by the encroachment. Photo: Amran Hossain
“We served the final [third] notice on May 4 asking them to produce the design and remove the illegal structures within a week.”
He said, “We will declare the entire building illegal in case they fail to produce the approved design.”
Officials of Fortune Shop Owners’ Association said they had protested the building of the shops but could not stop the directors.
Sajjad Zahir, managing director of Global Engineers and Developers Ltd and also on the board of directors of Fortune Shopping Mall, said, “Some over-enthusiastic directors started building the shops illegally.”
“We will soon remove those,” he said.
Regarding the buildings approval, he said, “We have the approval but it was not sent to Rajuk for some reason. We will show it if Rajuk asks for it now.”
MA Manik, a director of Fortune Shopping Mall but not of Global Engineers and Developers Ltd, said, “I know nothing about building illegal shops, other directors did it.”
The mall, housing various commercial outlets, opened a little over a year ago but the top seven floors are still under construction.
Source: The Daily Star
