BGB erects building on Rajshahi jail's land
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) yesterday allegedly threatened a prison official to hurt her career and assaulted some prison guards in Rajshahi city when the latter went to recover a piece of land "illegally occupied" by the paramilitary force.
The guards and officials of Rajshahi Central Jail went to Sreerampur area on the Padma river bank around 11:00am to secure 6 kathas of the prison land, said the guards.
Rajshahi sector BGB members pushed the jail guards and threw plastic chairs on them, said Halima Khatun, senior superintendent of the jail.
She alleged that Maj Sarwar Hossain of Rajshahi Sector BGB threatened her to hurt her career and drove them away from the site with BGB forces.
She said the jail authorities had been at loggerheads with BGB members since August last year when BGB occupied 6 kathas of their land. On January 22, a Supreme Court verdict gave a ruling in favour of the jail authorities, she claimed.
However, Maj Sarwar Hossain, general operational officer of BGB, refuted the allegation of threatening Halima Khatun and said, “It's a childish talk. How can I take her job? She does not serve under me”.
He admitted some chaos occurred over the land and claimed that they both agreed to settle the matter later through discussion.
As they members of two separate government offices were feuding over land, several hundred people and journalists flocked to the scene yesterday, but BGB asked them to leave the place. At 12:00pm, both BGB and jail guards were seen on duty at the site.
Maj Sarwar said they raised a two-storey concrete building to house a restaurant called Simante Obokash and a community centre, Simanto Sommelon Kendro, on 30 decimals of government land taking lease and user rights from Rajshahi deputy commissioner's (DC) office.
Locals said BGB ran a restaurant and rented the spots for holding private functions.
DC of Rajshahi Kazi Ashraf Uddin said the district administration gave local BGB user rights for the land at the scene, but they disapproved of the right to erect a building along the river embankment. BGB refused to comply with the administration's notices to remove illegal establishments, he added.
Ashraf, however, said the administration did not intervene as the feuding groups were parts of the same ministry -- Home.
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