Fresh drive to free Shitalakhya

11 illegal structures demolished
Narayanganj district administration along with Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority yesterday demolished illegal structures on river Shitalakhya under Sonargaon upazila.
They knocked down a total of 11 structures including two one-storey buildings, one semi-concrete structure, a jetty, two pier stairs and four walls.
The eviction drive led by Narayanganj Executive Magistrate Abdul Hai started off with three concrete structures of Hoque Cold Storage next to Kanchpur Bridge.
A mosque on the list of the eviction was given a period of seven days to remove.
BIWTA Deputy Director (port) Alamgir Kabir said all the structures were in Laxman Kutubpur mouja under Rupganj.
“Eviction of river encroachers will only help restore the river to how it was in the recent past,” said Alamgir.
BIWTA with two tugboats, Agrajatra and Agrabahak, two workboats and around 200 labourers carried out the drive. The drive will resume next Monday.
Earlier, the district administration has identified a total of 320 structures on Shitalakhhya, Balu and Buriganga rivers under the district’s jurisdiction as per Revisional Survey records.
Deputy Commissioner of Narayanganj Shamsur Rahman said most of the encroachers had taken out lease on the rivers from BIWTA.
Sources said a total of 1158 acres of river area of the three rivers have been occupied by around 3010 illegal structures that has reduced the width of the rivers.
Following a High Court order on June 25 last year, Narayanganj district administration submitted a report on the status of river encroachment as per RS and Cadastral Survey records to the court in December.
The authorities carried out an eviction drive in June the same year for 11 days and demolished 134 illegal structures including makeshift ones on the rivers.

Courtesy of The Daily Star