The look of a metropolis, small and big cities or even the countryside blooms by the style and aesthetics of the building of houses and structures of the area; and the art that is followed in the task is called architecture. Architecture, amazingly, has a long history, which testifies to the fact that in even pre-Christian days the art was meticulously taught and practised in Athens and Rome. It is almost mind boggling to read in history that there were standard measures of the size of different rooms of different types of buildings--residence and office. After more than two millennia we in Bangladesh are fighting with the art's flawless learning and pious practice.
We observe to our discontent that our cities and towns have been developed in mostly a haphazard manner and buildings have been erected without keeping in mind the proper architectural and structural components. This injudiciousness has damaged not only the aesthetic part of urban planning but also created many problems in civic life, which also speaks poorly of our town planners. What we must not forget is that reckless house building contributes to developing slums, among other factors. In many matters we have illogical fancies such as building big houses and using luxury fittings, which squeeze our croplands and eat up our wealth.
Regrettably, the relevant ministry of the government and the authorities under it, possessing power and responsibility of permitting and supervising building planning and construction in greater Dhaka and the country as a whole, have thus far failed to carry out their duties properly. We have a National Building Code that is mandatory for building construction in greater Dhaka but it is hardly followed due to house builders' greed and also negligence of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripaksha, which, if seen from a legal point of view, would fall under a criminal category.
Against this backdrop, all concerned people must be up and doing to formulate a national housing policy having a uniform Building Code, which will be mandatory for all in constructing buildings in metropolises, cities, small towns and even rural areas. And, more importantly, the authorities concerned would have to remain alert and should not show any laxity in performing their duties to make sure that none can violate the law.
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