Encroachers march against eviction
The Dhaka District Admin-istration postponed for two days their drive in Ramchandrapur canal yesterday, as agitating encroachers brought out a procession against the drive.
Dhaka Water Supply Authority (Wasa) officials who are in charge of maintaining the canal once the deputy collector’s office completed the eviction were present on the site. They said the drive has been postponed on humanitarian grounds.
Wasa officials told The Daily Star yesterday they have given two more days to the encroachers to remove the illegal structures.
The government is conducting the drive to keep its pledges to the people by reclaiming encroached rivers and canals.
Over 500 illegal structures were set up on the canal of which 12 were sturdy concrete buildings while the rest were makeshift structures.
“We will resume the drive after two days,” said a Wasa official.
The authorities will conduct more drives soon on Hazaribagh canal and Kalyanpur ‘Ka’ canal, he said.
The government-formed taskforce on river recovery asked the administration to retrieve the canals at its 9th meeting at the shipping ministry last month.
The authorities on October 4 started the drive to remove the illegal structures on the 1.8 km Katasur canal. The drive continued for a week.
