Bangladesh News

Bangladesh Railway is facing difficulties recovering more than 2,000 acres of occupied land across the country largely due to pressure from political leaders, influential quarters and non-cooperation of government agencies.

The occupiers are inflicting more than Tk 400 crore annual loss to the ailing state-owned transport agency, railway sources said.

A top official of Bangladesh Railway requesting anonymity said, “Whenever efforts are made to recover occupied railway land, we face obstructions in many forms. Influential groups often supported by political bigwigs try to create pressure. Sometimes the administration does not pay heed to our request for police and magistrates.”

The official, however, would not elaborate or give names.

Sources say that Bangladesh Railway has about 63,312 acres of land across the country and some political leaders, influential parties and armed hoodlums in the two zones of railway have encroached upon 1,273 acres of land. They have been running unauthorised businesses there either by constructing markets or slums. Some have even set up religious structures.

Sources said former housing minister and BNP leader Mirza Abbas and his family allegedly occupied about four acres of railway land near Kamalapur Railway Station. The parliamentary standing committee on communications ministry in November discussed recovering the land. The committee asked the railway to take appropriate measures.

Sources say that since independence various government bodies “occupied” about 804 acres of railway land. They neither have railway approval nor do they pay the railway for the use of land.

The government bodies include 10 deputy commissioners’ (DC) offices that occupy about 700 acres of railway land.

The Ministry of Sports constructed a stadium in Mugdapara in the capital and Ministry of Health occupied railway land in the same area to build a hospital. The Dhaka City Corporation constructed the Nagar Bhaban in Fulbaria on railway land as well.

The Karwan Bazar wholesale market is also on railway land. The illegal occupants also include Dhaka Wasa and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.

This government recovered 502 acres of land as of last October. However, no major effort was made since then to recover the rest of the occupied land even though there were talks at the parliamentary standing committee in this regard last November.

Bangladesh Railway officials say 493 acres of land recovered during the caretaker government’s rule was lost to encroachers again for lack of protection and monitoring.

Since railway owns vast area of land all around the country, previous governments allotted its land to state agencies when it needed land to build establishments. However, monetary issues that developed in this connection were never settled.

No serious effort has ever been made to get back the land occupied by government agencies.

Director General of Bangladesh Railway Md Belayet Hossain told The Daily Star, “Recovering railway land is a continuous process. We are conducting raids on a regular basis. However, railway cannot protect its land across the country due to lack of manpower.

“It is difficult to keep railway land safe from land grabbers as land is extremely valuable, especially in Dhaka city. Large pieces of land are lying unused now as they are marked for future projects, which increases the risk of further encroachment. We have started to set up fences to protect our land.”

He said, “Many occupants built religious structures on the occupied land, making the situation sensitive, while slums cannot be evicted on humanitarian grounds.”

Furthermore, many cases filed in connection with disputes over ownership of land are tangled in legal procedures at courts putting the railway in deeper dilemma, he said.

Regarding government agencies occupying railway land, the DG said, “Letters have been sent to the railway land occupying government agencies. However, there were no replies. We will send reminders soon.”

Meanwhile, Shaikh Mujibur Rahman, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on communications ministry, told The Daily Star that demarcation of railway land would start soon.

“The government is giving recovery of railway land high priority as many development projects for rejuvenating the railway are in the pipeline, including the laying of new rail lines,” he said.

“However, settling the problems with government agencies has become complicated as pieces of land were allotted to them by previous governments without settling legitimacy issues. Different ministries have been asked to report on the legitimacy of their use of railway land,” he said.