200 illegal structures removed to free RHD land

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) yesterday removed over 200 structures including several multi-storied buildings that illegal occupiers had constructed on the lands of the department in Old Bus Stand area of Mirzapur upazila in Tangail.

The RHD officials and employees along with Golam Masum Prodhan, executive magistrate in Tangail, launched the drive from 10:00am to 2:00pm and removed the illegal structures including shops, hotels, restaurants, workshops and dwelling houses beside the Old Dhaka-Tangail Road.

Following instructions from the higher authoritites, the illegal structures erected on the government lands are being removed for ensuring smooth movement of vehicles on the road, said Imran Farhat, a sub-divisional engineer of RHD in Tangail. 

“Earlier, the government lands were marked following a survey and we served notices on several occasions during the last couple of months, asking the occupiers to remove the illegal structures on their own.

“Lastly, announcement was made through loudspeaker, urging the illegal occupiers to remove the structures yesterday [Monday]. As they failed to comply, the RHD started the drive and demolished around 200 structures from 10:00am to 3:00pm today [Tuesday],” the official said. 

Such drives to remove illegal structures from government lands will continue, he added.

During yesterday's drive, owners of several structures including Manjur Hossain, Kabir Ahmed, Faruk Ahmed, Shilpy Begum and Paritosh claimed to the officials that they had valid documents for ownership of the lands.

Asked about the matter, the RHD official said, “We are removing only the structures that were erected illegally on government lands, after confirmation about the matter from the local land office.”