Due to the negligence of the contractor, the a flood shelter at Kamarshon Government Primary School in Tarash, Sirajganj, is already in submerged state though the construction is still ongoing.
Although the columns were laid after pouring the base, its working capacity has been declining as the upward exposed rods are already rusted due rain. In this way, the installations will be damaged if it remains exposed during monsoon season, said several people in the area.
On the other hand, due to the delay in the construction work of the four-storey shelter center, the concerned department has given a letter of reason to the contractor company due to the negligence of the contractor of that contractor named Meem Enterprise. The second phase of the letter showing the reason for not working, said the Dhaka Disaster Management Department's work supervising officer Assistant Engineer Jalal Uddin.
It has been learned that under the Government Flood Prone Area Construction of Flood Shelter Center (Phase III) project under the Disaster Management Department at an estimated cost of Tk 31 million called for tenders for construction work at the flood shelter.
According to him, after taking part in the tender, a contractor named Meem Enterprise of Ullapara Upazila of the district got the job of constructing a flood shelter which is primarily will be used as a school building in Kamarshon village of Tarash. Later, on August 23, 2020, they also received a work order to start construction work.
But the contractor neglected to start work on the construction site of the four-storey flood shelter by the end of February 2021, about six months after receiving the work order and did not start work on time. Since then, the flood shelter under construction has been left unattended and is now submerged in water.
And in the last one year after receiving the work order, the progress of the work is not more than 10-12 percent of the total work.
However, in this context, the owner of the contractor company, Shamsul Islam said, as it is a flood prone area, it is not possible to work for 3 to 4 months. And the slow pace of work due to changing the design of the shelter four times.
However, measures will be taken to ensure that there is no damage to the upward exposed rods of the columns.
Assistant Engineer Jalal Uddin on the other hand said the work was slow due to negligence of the contractor. For this reason, he has given a letter of reason to the contractor once and a letter of reason is being prepared for the second time.
In addition, measures will be taken to ensure that the exposed rods facing upwards are not damaged by rain.