The city development authority has given the offices at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) building more time to vacate.
According to Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha (RAJUK), they are to vacate the buildings between 9 am to 5 pm on Tuesday (Apr 23) and Wednesday (Apr 24).
The BGMEA building which faces demolition for being built in violation of the Wetlands Act, houses offices of several organisations.
RAJUK opened the sealed-off building at the request of the offices and many of them have started taking out their belongings on Tuesday, said RAJUK Director Khandaker Aliur Rahman.
The complex was first sealed off on Apr 16 giving the offices an ultimatum to evacuate by 7 pm.
The building was opened once again on Apr 18 after the organisations wrote to RAJUK asking for more time.
In April 2018, the Supreme Court ordered the BGMEA building be demolished. According to the order, the building was to be demolished sometime after April 12 this year.
The 15-storey building stands on a critical spot in Dhaka, blocking the water flow between Hatirjheel lake and Begunbari canal; and has been described by the Supreme Court as “a cancer in the Hatirjheel project.”
The High Court ordered the BGMEA to move forward with demolition work in April 2011. The association filed a leave to appeal against the verdict which was later dismissed by the top court.
In June 2016, the Appellate Division upheld the verdict ordering the demolition of the structure and told the BGMEA to bear the cost of demolition.
The RMG trade body lost its final legal battle on Mar 5, 2017, when the Appellate Division threw out a petition for a review of the verdict.
Later, the association sought a year’s extension to the latest deadline to demolish the building.
Following the plea, the Supreme Court, in April 2018, granted BGMEA one more year to demolish its office building.
The court had ordered the association to submit an undertaking with a condition that the BGMEA will not seek another extension after the one it currently applied for expires.