Recovered railway land under illegal occupiers in two months

Hardly two months after recovery from illegal occupiers, a large area of Bangladesh Railway’s (BR) land near Sreemangal station in Moulvibazar is again under the grabbers’ possession.

The BR authorities on November 27 last year recovered 2.75 acres of land after removing 300 shops made by illegal occupiers in the area.

BR’s Estate Officer Nazrul Islam, accompanied by Sreemangal Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Nazrul Islam and Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md Mahmudur Rahman, led the operation.

But only a few days after the drive, the former occupiers became active again and about 2.50 acres of land has been re-occupied by now.

Visiting the spot a couple of days ago, this correspondent found that shops with signboards marking various items, including furniture, soft drinks, cigarettes, mobile recharge devices, and even construction materials, are filling up the railway land.

“I built a shop at my previously occupied place as others are doing so. If I did not take the possession, it would have been occupied by some others. If the railway authorities conduct drive again, we will move away,” said an occupant seeking anonymity.

Earlier, BR’s attempts to recover the land on several occasions failed.

Rupashpur Mouza, adjoining the east side of Bhanugach Road in ​​Sreemangal Station area, comprises 287 decimals of land owned by the railway.

Several years ago, some local influential people occupied 135 decimals of the land in the name of “Muktijoddha Sangsad Krishi and Nursery project”.

Besides, over a hundred traders illegally built shops on the rest 152 decimals of land, worth about Tk 65 crore according to the present market value.

Contacted, Aslam Mia, one of the alleged occupiers under the banner of the said nursery, said, “I don’t know about the matter. Some people want to tarnish my image.”

The government is being deprived of huge revenue due to the illegal occupation of the railway land.

The BR authorities in 1981 allocated 182 plots of the land in Sreemangal to lessees through tender.

But the authorities could not hand over the possession of the plots to the people concerned as complexities arose due to filing of a series of cases by several occupants who prepared fake documents in collusion with a section of dishonest officials.

Later the High Court dismissed all the cases and issued a rule in favour of Bangladesh Railway, but the illegal occupiers continued to stay.

On October 16 in 2016, the railway authorities launched a drive to remove illegal set-ups including the nursery but the occupiers, holding a banner inscribed with pictures of Bangabandhu and names of freedom fighters, foiled the drive, said the stakeholders.

Sreemangal UNO Nazrul Islam said it is the responsibility of the railway authorities to free the land under their jurisdiction.

“When they conducted the drive to free the land two months ago, we administrative officials served as magistrates. Now the place is being occupied again. We will inform the railway officials and extend cooperation if they want to evict the illegal occupiers again,” he said.

Railway Division’s Estate Officer Nazrul Islam said, “Two months ago, we recovered the land from people who had kept it under illegal occupation for long. As attempts are being made to re-occupy the land, I have informed my higher authorities and they have decided to file a case against the perpetrators.”