Bangladesh News

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Narayanganj district administration launched a drive yesterday to evict the land grabbers along the river Shitalakhya and knocked down parts of five multi-storey buildings.

Sources said part of a semi-concrete yarn coning factory and around eight to 10 small makeshift structures were also demolished during the daylong eviction drive against structures built illegally on the river.

The drive started at about 9:45 in the morning in presence of Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Shamsur Rahman and BIWTA joint director Md Abul Bashar. The eviction team partially demolished two five-storey and three six-storey buildings.

A total of 134 structures including makeshift ones have been listed for partial demolition as those were built illegally encroaching on the river Shitalakhya, said officials, adding that owners of five of the structures have obtained stay orders from the court against eviction.

While the six-storey building owned by one Jahangir was being demolished, Narayanganj municipality commissioner Maksudul Alam Khorshed came to plead for sparing the structure for a couple of days. However, Magistrate Abdul Hai did not pay heed and persisted in knocking it down.

“We are determined to carry on with the drive to recover the demarcated area of the river,” Hai told The Daily Star over phone.

Meanwhile, the eviction drive against the encroachers on the Tongi end of the river Turag continued for the seventh day yesterday to complete the unfinished demolition.

But a number of religious structures, built illegally on the river Turag, have been given immunity from eviction ‘due to religious sentiment,’ said the officials concerned.

Under the cover of the ongoing drive, Gazipur district administration also removed some makeshift shops from Tongi Municipality Land Office premises.

Two acres of land of the office has long been illegally occupied by a non-government high school, some makeshift shops, a small mosque and a private house, officials said.

“We have verbally asked the grabbers of the land including the school headmaster to remove their structures,” said senior executive magistrate of Gazipur Md Ameer Uddin.

“We cannot knock down religious infrastructure because of religious sentiment,” said BIWTA assistant port officer Abu Bakar Siddique.

The BIWTA authorities and Gazipur district administration intended to complete demolition of the remaining portions of Masjid Market and Fish Market at Tongi Poura Bazar on the bank of Turag by yesterday.

BIWTA Deputy Director Saiful Islam said that they would go today for demolition of heavily built Shajid Washing and a unit of Ananda Group of Industries near Kamarpara Bridge.

The drive was conducted only on Tongi part of Turag, said Abu Bakar, adding that most of the listed structures on Dhaka part have been knocked down during the drive.

Though BIWTA planned a three-day eviction drive to clear the Tongi part of the Turag, they had to extend the time due to ground realities and the drive would continue till the job is done, said BIWTA Chairman Md Abdul Mannan Howlader.

A total of 63 structures have been identified as illegally built on the river in Tongi part while 69 have been identified as such in Dhaka part.

BIWTA senior Deputy Director Md Abu Zafar Howlader (Narayanganj port) said they are using strong tugboats to pull down heavy construction as there are many structures built illegally along the river Shitalakshya. Around 200 workers were engaged in the demolition drive yesterday.

He said demarcation pillars would be set up to protect the riverbanks after demolition.

Our Narayanganj correspondent adds: Mayor of Narayanganj Municipality Selina Hayat Ivy arrived at the eviction site with a layout of the river banks and said although she has been fighting for long for saving rivers, BIWTA did not include the municipality for conducting survey.

BIWTA Joint Director Md Abul Bashar said that they would send the survey report to the municipality.