Illegal structures keep sprouting along Kuakata beach
Despite multiple eviction drives by the authorities concerned in recent months, illegal structures keep sprouting along the Kuakata beach in Patuakhali's Kalapara upazila.
Since November 2022, the Water Development Board (WDB) with the help of the local administration knocked down several hundred illegal structures, including roadside restaurants, tea stalls, grocery and souvenir shops, on both sides of the Kuakata Zero Point (Chowrasta) area.
The drives were carried out to free both sides of the Kuakata flood control dam area from encroachers.
However, over 200 illegal structures have sprung up again along the Kuakata beach, ignoring a High Court directive.
On January 18, 2012, the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim declared the construction of private structures on sea beaches and shores "illegal" and directed the government to draw up a master plan to turn Kuakata sea beach into an ideal tourist destination.
In its verdict on the writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh on June 2, 2011, the court ordered the government to immediately remove all the structures built by any individual or company within the demarcated area of the Kuakata beach.
According to Mohipur land office sources, a local influential group, that had constructed the illegal structures, filed a case with a Patuakhali court, claiming ownership of the land in 1975.
Decades later, the court dismissed the case in November 2022.
Soon after, the district administration and WDB conducted separate drives for three days from November 10 and evicted around 600 illegal structures from the beach.
Sajidul Islam Hiru, an influential local claiming land ownership, is building a three-storey structure on the beach to the west of Zero Point. However, the structure is prone to collapse due to its location as it has no protection against storm surges.
Although before building anything on the beach, one has to get approval from the municipality and the beach management committee, this rarely happens.
Asked, Hiru's project supervisor AKM Shahjalal, who is his father-in-law also, claimed they had court approval giving them permission to carry out constructions on the beach.
Meanwhile, a number of local residents, who have been evicted from their homes, which were also subsequently removed, have also returned to the beach.
Kohinoor Begum, a local resident who was recently evicted, said her five-member family survived on the meagre income of her husband, a fisherman by profession.
"After we were evicted, we had no place to go. So, we came back and built a hut for our family," she said.
Alam Gazi, another local resident, said, "We have been here since my grandfather settled here. As we have no other place to go, I came back with my family. But we will surely leave, if we are rehabilitated."
Delwar Talukdar, a local fisherman, said, "Despite being evicted, we are forced to continue living here since we have no other place to go."
Speaking on the matter, Kuakata Municipal Mayor Anwar Hossain said the illegal structures outside the flood control dyke were removed in order to transform the Kuakata beach into a well-planned tourist destination.
"But many families became homeless in the process. So, an initiative is being taken to rehabilitate the evicted people."
In addition, a market for tourists to do a variety of shopping is being planned with the help of the local administration, the mayor added.
Contacted, Kalapara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Jahangir Hossain said rehabilitation efforts for the displaced families were underway.
"We will rehabilitate the families that lived on the beach and simultaneously remove the illegal structures that are springing up," he added.
Executive Engineer of WDB (Kalapara circle) Khalid Bin Walid said they were watching out for any new illegal structures on the beach in order to demolish them if they were to reappear.
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