Road made Aman field

A road has been turned into arable land and Aman saplings were planted there over a week ago, much to the suffering of dozens of families at Fulgachh Kakeya village in Mogholhat union under Sadar upazila.

The villagers have been facing trouble in communication as the lone road is now arable land.

Villagers said Girish Chandra Roy purchased the land four months ago and turned it into arable land. They said they had been using the road for communication for the last four decades.

Nilkanta Barmon, 55, a resident of the village, said Girish Chandra cut the public road on June 3 this year after purchasing the land, but had to rebuild it as police stopped the cutting.

The road was cut up again on August 21 and Aman saplings were planted, Nilkanto said. The eight- foot-wide-road is now only one-and-a-half-foot-wide, creating difficulties in connecting to the main road, he said, adding that police have been informed about the matter.

Kartik Chandra Barmon of the village said school and college going children also face difficulty in going to their institutions.

Latifur Rahman, 68, a farmer of the village, said the road had been used since long for transporting harvested crops from the lands and it was used as a public road. As the road has been cut up it will create serious problems in transporting crops, he added.

Girish said they purchased 94 decimals of land from local Dinesh Chandra Roy and turned the land into arable land. “We have purchased the land, so why should we keep it unused in the name of public road?” he asked.

Seller Dinesh said he sold the land on the condition that the road would remain for communication by the villagers, but the purchaser has violated the agreement.

Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mahfuz Alam told this correspondent that police visited the spot and told the landowner to rebuild the road. “If the person does not respond to the message, legal action will be taken,” he said.