The authorities on Monday recovered 5.24 acres government land grabbed by controversial Hallmark Group and bulldozed a number of illegal structures at Phulbaria of Savar upazila, on the outskirts of the capital. Dhaka district administration along with Savar police bulldozed the structures that housed dairy farms, factories and storehouses at Hallmark Industrial Park in the daylong drive.
Md Asaduzzaman, executive magistrate of the district administration, led the drive from 10:00am that continued till 6:00pm in compliance with a court order.
Five tin-shed structures have been completely demolished, said Md Liakat Ali, the assistant commissioner (land) in Savar, adding that 5.24 acres of land was recovered.
The Hallmark Group had grabbed some 10 acres of government land for years in the Savar area.
In November 2012, a court in Dhaka had ordered the recovery of the government land grabbed by the Hallmark, which suddenly took spot light after big monetary scam in Sonali Bank exposed in the media.
After the incident, the group’s top executive Jesmin Islam and her husband Tanvir Mahmud, also the managing director of the group, and many of its executives were arrested in connection with the Sonali Bank loan scandal.
Following the court order, the administration had conducted a drive and demolished some eight illegal structures, including a four-storey building and recovered one third of the land grabbed at Nandakhali by Hallmark Group.
According to the media report, Hallmark Group in 2006 had primarily purchased only two acres of land at Hemayetpur for a dairy farm.
Within a short period of time, Tanvir Mahmud with the help of his hired goons and a section of unscrupulous government officials and law enforcers grabbed around 200 acres of land of the locals.
Several dozens of general diaries and cases were filed with Savar Police Station in this regard.
On Monday, the authorities only recovered the government land grabbed by the controversial business group.
-With New Age input
