This is a disgraceful example of a decrepit culture where shortcut, deceit and devious methods were resorted to, to construct a factory building. Unfortunately, such is the norm in our country. Surely it had saved a huge sum of money for the factory owner, but does it compare to the life of even one of the many killed in the building collapse?

What is even more shocking is to hear high officials of RAJUK and the Ministry of Housing and Public Works say with a straight face that the collapse was due to faulty construction of the building. If the construction was faulty how is it that it came to be built in the first place? There are strict procedures regarding construction of a building, and, one would have thought that procedure regarding construction of industrial buildings would be even more stringent. If the owner has manipulated the procedures, then those who are entrusted to ensure adherence to the code of construction at every level has also failed in their duty. Can they escape the responsibility for the disaster? It was by no means an accident. It was a case of death due to criminal negligence. All those responsible must have to answer for this.

Let this be a lesson for us. Let us not circumvent rules nor allow those that do so. Let this also open our eyes to the need for equipping relevant agencies with adequate resources including manpower for implementing the oversight mechanism and tools and equipment for salvage and rescue operations in such an eventuality whose occurrence at regular intervals has regrettably become a fact of life.

We demand that the government go to the root cause of the disaster and initiate measures to prevent future recurrence. It is also essential to carry out a survey of all the high rise buildings and factories to determine the number of such structures in the construction of which correct procedures have not been adhered to.

While the victims must be compensated adequately, it is also of paramount importance that corrective measures are put in place immediately.