BADC takes possession of its 0.33 acre land

The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) in Chittagong took possession of 0.33 acres of land with the help of the district administration in Sholoshahar area of the port city yesterday.
Sources said Mohammad Musa and Mohammad Harun, two businesspersons, took lease the land from the BADC in 2003 for commercial purposes. They built a community centre, Woodland Park, on the land in the same year.
BADC Chief Engineer Ashraf Ali Khan said: "The BADC cancelled the lease in 2009. Later, the two businessmen filed a writ petition with the High Court in this regard."
The court dismissed the writ petition a few days ago, he added.
“The BADC authorities issued them notice to hand over the possession of the land but the lease receivers declined to do it,” he said.
However, Salah Uddin, director of the community centre, alleged that the BADC neither served any notice nor gave them any time for this.
Terming it an eviction drive, he said: "The BADC authorities did not issue any eviction notice though they were forcing us to leave the place."
“We have an agreement with the BADC till 2018 but they unilaterally cancelled it in 2009,” said Salauddin.