Banani fire: Tasvir changes building design

Senior Correspondent: BNP leader Tasvir Ul Islam extended Banani’s FR Tower to 23rd floor bringing change in the building design that caught a deadly fire.

The detectives arrested two of the owners of Banani’s fire-ravaged FR Tower on Saturday night.

RAJUK sources said that engineer Faruk and Rupayan Group jointly applied to get design approval in 1996. RAJUK approved the 18th storied building. But, the building was extended in 2001 during the reign of BNP-Jamaat. The developer company sold the 20th and 21st floor to former lawmaker Maidul Islam. Tasvir bought the two floors. Later, he built two more floors bringing change in the design. 

Tasvir, a member of the BNP’s central committee and the president of the party’s Kurigram wing, is the managing director and CEO of Quasem Industries Limited.

There were around 25 offices in the FR Tower. However, the stairways of the building was 36 inches wide only.

Earlier, on Thursday, at least 26 people were killed in the blaze that broke out in the 23-floor office bloc.


risingbd/Dhaka/March 31, 2019/Maksud/Nasim