The Sylhet City Corporation authorities started initiatives on Tuesday to reclaim encroached canals to address city water-stagnation.
The authorities, led by the city mayor, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, began demarcating the grabbed lands of Goali Chhara and identifying the illegal encroachers in Sonarpara, Kharpara and Mirabazar area in the city in the morning, the SCC officials said.
The local ward councilor, Dinar Khan Hasu, said the city corporation officials and employees also participated in the demolishing programme.
The mayor said, ‘The canal land encroachers must be evicted, no matter how powerful they are.’
There are nine major canals in the city and among them Dhubri Chhara, Goali Chhara, Malni Chhara, Gavial Chhara, Mangli Chhara, Kewa Chhara, Baruthkhana Chhara and Boita Chhara falls in Uttar Surma and Ratna Khal in Dakkhin Surma.
‘More than 60 per cent of these canals have been occupied by different encroachers over years and this is the vital reason of the water-stagnation in the city,’ the SCC officer, Hanifur Rahman, said.
-With New Age input
