200 makeshift houses demolished at Mirpur

The National Housing Authority (NHA) authorities yesterday knocked down around 200 makeshift houses at Mirpur-11 in the city.
Locals alleged that NHA conducted a more than six-hour eviction drive at sections 14 and 15, starting from 10:00am without prior notice that leaving the dwellers shelterless in rain.
Some locals said they were not served with any eviction notice earlier, but heard an eviction declaration over loudspeakers on Saturday in the area, adding that they had been living in the slums for around 20 years.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) Delwar Ahmed of Kafrul Police Station said, “I received a letter from the NHA authorities which sought protection during the drive. In the morning, NHA men reached the spot with a bulldozer and stated eviction in presence of policemen.”
Mostofa Kamruddin, executive director of Urban Poor, an NGO, told BBC that they went to the court, seeking stay order. The court granted the order and asked NHA not to conduct any eviction without arranging rehabilitation for the concerned people.
They informed NHA of the court order, but it did not pay heed, he added.
NHA Chairman Abu Siddique told BBC, “There is no scope for rehabilitating the people who started settling illegally in our lands. Standing committee of NHA has decided to evict all the grabbers from the NHA land. As part of it, we conducted the drive.”