The committee formed to probe the landslide at Batali Hill, which killed 17 persons on Friday, on Wednesday submitted its report in which it blamed the faulty construction of the guide wall as the major reason behind the tragedy.
'There was no weep hole in the box type guide wall to let water seep away. The outer portion of the wall collapsed due to the pressure of stagnant water when the inner portion remained unharmed,' said the report.
The committee, headed by additional deputy commissioner Ehsan-e-Elahi, also said in its report that the concerned land-grabber had excavated earth from the bottom of the wall to set up illegal structures, which also might have caused the collapse.
The committee put forwarded nine recommendations, including the assigning of a team of experts to make sure whether or not the guide wall had been constructed as per the design and good materials had been used as stipulated in the tender schedule.
'The Chittagong City Corporation, which financed the construction of the guide wall on the hill owned by the Bangladesh Railway, will be able to take punitive measures against the persons responsible if any deviation is found by the team of experts,' said the report.
The committee also recommended immediate removal of all illegal structures from all the hills, including 12 identified as especially vulnerable by the probe committee formed after the series of landslides which killed 126 people on 11 June, 2007.
It also stressed the need for ringing the hills with barbed wire fences and planting trees to prevent encroachment.
Making a list of the people dwelling on vulnerable hill slopes and taking necessary measures in association with the district administration to rehabilitate them was also recommended by the committee.
'It is also necessary to ascertain whether or not the guide walls of the other hills are in good condition,' said the report, adding that measures for the maintenance of the guide walls would have to be taken.
The committee's chief told New Age that he had submitted the report to deputy commissioner Fayez Ahmed in the afternoon, adding that they were scheduled to submit it on Thursday but were able to submit it a day ahead.
'We could submit the report a day before the stipulated time thanks to the all-out cooperation of all the committee members,' he added.
Abdul Bari, assistant estate officer of Bangladesh Railway, Manzur Morshed, assistant commissioner of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police, Rafiqul Islam, executive engineer of the Chittagong City Corporation, and Mostafa Kamal, executive engineer of Housing and Settlement Department, were the members of the committee.
Seventeen members of five families, including five of a family and four of another, were killed on Friday morning in a landslide on the southern part of Batali Hill at Ambagan in the port city.
Earlier, 126 people were killed in a series of landslides in different parts of the city on 11 June, 2007, and 11 in 2008. Seven were killed in landslides in 2002, 16 in 2000, and 19 in 1999.
Source : New Age
