Application of building construction rules on residential building-a case study

Abstract

This study is about the application of building construction rules on residential building in Rajshahi City. There are some govt. rules and regulations to build a pennanent construction. The Building Construction Rules is one of the most important things in the field of planning and development. It is intended to ensure soundness and stability of structures and the health and welfare for the occupants. It has important role in Planned Development and Beautification activities of the locality. For this reason in the long title and preamble of the rules it is said "A rules to provide for the prevention of haphazard construction of building " This haphazard construction in no way expected for the state, society or person. These rules should be known as well as followed by every builder and construction institute or finn. In this study Rajshahi has been considered as study area, because it's Master Plan has been finished recently. So, there is a scope of having updated infonnation about this city. Besides, as an institutional city it is one of the important cities of our country. This is the time to adorn this city in a planned way. Generally people want to build their houses according to their need as well as their modified design. Most of the owners build their houses violating the BC Rule. Due to violation of rules's people encounter so many problems in the city. This study has emphasized on various problems faced by people as well as controlling authority in case of residential building construction. It has examined the general problems that relates to common interest of the general public or the inhabitants of the. city as well as specific problems faced by development authority in controlling city development. Among the different localities in Rajshahi City four localities have been selected considering economic condition, planned and unplanned nature of the areas. and sample size was considered depending on the population size (number of residential building). Questionnaire survey among the among the residential building owners, keyinfonnant discussion and intensive field observations were the prime tools of data collection. Among numerous components under building construction rules this study has focused XII on residential building only considering the ease of data collection, availability of information and limitation of time. Usually BC Rules violation is a common practice in Rajshahi City as well as in the country. Building owners of the planned residential areas in Rajshahi are conscious about BC Rules than other areas. Comparatively violation rate is lower in planned areas than unplanned areas. Various reasons of violation of BC rules are identified in the study area. Among the reasons; lack of institutional strength, negligence, of duties and responsibilities of the concerned authorities, immorality, ignorance of rules, confusion on area of jurisdiction of Rajshahi Development Authorities, administrative slackness, location,. are notable. More than half of the respondents of the study area have claimed that they are facing different problems due to violation of BC rules. Maximum people reported about environmental problem like, less air circulation, less sunlight etc. Some people stated that due to BC rules violation pressure is increasing on the utility and services. Social conflicts have been increased among the adjacent neighbours. Some people claimed that unplanned and haphazard growth is deteriorating aesthetic view of the city. It is expected that this research would be an important document to shed light towards the state ofBC rules violation, reasons behind violation and its consequences. It would help to alert the concern authorities as well as residential building owners to follow BC rules and thus to ensure a planned and healthy living in residential areas.