Engineers, architects and experts say the entire construction sector in the city is rapidly growing on total lawlessness. According to a top official of RAJUK, 99 per cent of all constructions are invariably deviated from originally approved plans.

"The most common practice of construction rule violation is illegal extensions to the building structures," said a top government official of department of architecture.

"These anomalies prevent sunlight and air entering the structures, thus people, especially children living in such accommodations grow up with an unhealthy state of mind," says Dr AHM Firoz, director of Mental Health Institute. As a result the entire society is affected, he added.

The situation is so bad that even the Institute of Architects, Bangladesh, finds it difficult to select a winner for ‘well designed buildings’ once in two years. There are hardly any buildings in the city without visible signs of building law violation.

The practice of violation is widely known by RAJUK, PWD officials and all other private and public professional bodies, yet nobody is taking any measures to stop the malpractice.

According to the building construction act of 1996, one cannot build a six storied building if the road is less than 15 feet wide. "But the high-rises are built in lanes and bylanes without any regard to the law, even RAJUK does not take action against the offenders that encourage others to violate the law," a top architect alleged.

RAJUK Chairman, Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury blamed the 'attitude' of the developers and landowners and said they always looked for deviations. "Political black hands and influences are also problems to the implementation of the law," he said. "When we try to take action against the offenders then politically influential people call us asking why we are implementing the law while most people are violating the rule." The chairman claims that these pressures force RAJUK to withdraw the case.