The derequisition through Land Acquisition (LA) case no 10 released 31.34 acres of land to influential private claimants in Gulshan, Baridhara and Banani areas.

Rajuk Executive Engineer Uzzal Mallik, who is involved in current lake reclamation drives, said, "Derequisition of LA case 10 has been the foremost obstacle to the recovery of the lake area. A number of land dispute cases are now stalled by court directives."

According to Uzzal, Gulshan-Baridhara stretch of the lake seems easier to recover but the task is very difficult in case of Gulshan-Banani stretch. Many of the plot claimants have filed cases and injunctions by court have been a major bar to reclaiming the lake.

Fear of facing contempt of court charge is another thing that worries Rajuk. Rajuk Magistrate ASM Emdadud Dastagir said that until last year, at least five show cause notices were served upon Rajuk regarding contempt of court.

"Out of the five notices, one is a direct contempt charge and now we have to appear before court and explain our position," said Dastagir.

A well-organised syndicate of land grabbers in connivance with government officials have long been active in the business of grabbing prime lands in the city exploiting advantage of the derequisition, said sources.

The land grabbers have over the years defiantly grabbed the lake on some pretext or other with earth filling and or by making illegal structures.

The grabbers have encroached upon the lake filling earth into the water body and resorting to various dirty tricks so that public eye cannot instantly detect the illegal act.

Urban experts and city dwellers have alleged that powerful lake grabbers in collusion with Rajuk officials have foiled time and again the attempt to demarcate, develop and conserve the water body, crucial for the city's environment and storm water drainage.

Member Secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa), architect Iqbal Habib, said, "Land grabbers have so far grabbed the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake at least in three to four layers infringing upon the lake's periphery set by Rajuk, with the Rajuk itself accommodating the lake grabbing in legal documents each time."

Rajuk has consistently changed alignment of the lake area to facilitate its trade of housing plots reducing the lake substantially time and again, said architect Iqbal Habib, who has extensively worked on the Gulshan Lake.

Actually, he said, Rajuk has no specifically defined layout of the lake and lakeside area, and the situation has expedited rampant encroachment into the water body.

Iqbal said: There are many instances that Rajuk once set the fringe of the lake but accommodated new plots in documents each time a lake grabber claimed one beyond the fringe, during more than one decade."

Rajuk Chairman KAM Haroon admitted earlier that the Gulshan Lake development project did not progress due to the vested interests of the influential land grabbers.

Rajuk has meanwhile undertaken construction of walkway along the lake at its own cost.

But it is facing serious obstruction in building the walkway along the lake properly maintaining the alignment, as outlined in the layout certified by the High Court.

Rajuk placed a layout of the lake to the High Court making it with super imposition of drawings on the old map of 1996 with an ulterior motive to legalise hundreds of plots created illegally encroaching upon the lake, sources said.

Frequent infringements by land grabbers into the lake are forcing the under-construction pathway to go in an extremely irregular course.

Almost all the plot owners on the lake bank have encroached upon the lake grabbing extra land in addition to their original allotment of 5 kathas with each plot owner presently possessing up to 10 to 12 kathas, said sources at Rajuk.

Interestingly, Rajuk itself issued allotment of extra land encroaching on the lake on demand from powerful plot owners on different occasions, according to sources.

Wetland Protection Act of 2000 provides for protection of canals and wetlands in flood retention ponds and basins earmarked in the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP).

The interim government launched demolition drive against illegal structures encroaching upon the lake on January 17 and started removing land filled in the lake area from April 30.