Over 100 illegal shops demolished
Owner of one such shop dies of cardiac arrest at hospital
A mobile court yesterday tore down over a hundred illegal structures in the town’s Sheikh Hasina Medical College area.
During the drive, owner of a medicine shop, set up illegally in the area, said to have fallen ill. He was declared dead after he was taken to a hospital.
Various types of illegal structures -- medicine shops, restaurants, fruit stores -- were built near the hospital on land belonging to Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
The mobile court, led by Executive Magistrates Mohammad Rokonuzzaman and Mohammad Al Mamun of Tangail District Administration, started the drive around 11:30am with a contingent of law enforcers.
Prior to the drive, on Wednesday, announcements were made using loud speakers, directing the encroachers to remove their illegal structures from the RHD land.
Magistrate Mohammad Al Mamun told The Daily Star that they started the drive to remove the illegal structures on RHD land and all other illegal structures built in the town will be removed eventually.
Muktar Hossain, a relative of Habibur Rahman Habil, 41, the medicine shop owner who died following during the drive, said Habibur started feeling sick when the court started dismantling his shop.
He was pronounced dead around noon after he was taken to the hospital, he said, adding, “Even though the authorities were demolishing illegal shops on one side of the road, they did not touch other shops built illegally on RHD land on the other side of the road.”
Regarding Muktar’s claim, Magistrate Al Mamun said they were removing illegal structures identified in a map provided by the RHD.
Contacted, Amimul Ehsan, executive engineer of RHD in Tangail, told The Daily Star that they asked the administration to remove all illegal structures on RHD land.
“In a meeting held at the hospital before, a decision was made to remove all illegal structures on RHD land on both sides of the road. The local lawmaker also directed to remove all the illegal structures... What can I do if the magistrates don’t remove illegal structures of other grabbers?” he also said.
Tangail General Hospital Superintendent Narayan Chandra Saha said they also wanted removal of all illegal structures in the hospital area and if some of the illegal structures escaped the drive, he would raise the matter in the next meeting.