Depot to be built on mosque, graveyard land

Railway authorities have leased out 21.29 acres of land to a private company for building an Inland Container Depot (ICD) in port city's Halishahar Chattogram Goods Port Yard (CGPY) area. However, the land was already home to an old graveyard and mosque, which the railway was well aware of before deciding to lease it out.

Moreover, the burial site hosts graves of railway staffers and their family members, which is why its leasing has triggered discontent among the staffers.

Of the 21.29 acres, the graveyard takes up around 0.6250 acres of land, while the mosque is on around 0.3425 acres. There's also an old shrine at the spot.

Known as "Bangladesh Railway CGPY Graveyard", the near 30-year-old site has around 450 graves. Apart from these, there are three water bodies on the land as well.

Agitated by the decision, railway employees have already submitted a letter to higher authorities, going as far as submitting a memorandum to Minister Nurul Islam Sujan during his visit to the project area in February.

Now, a tense situation prevails in the area, as the construction company is conducting a soil test inside the graveyard.

According to railway sources, an agreement to build a container depot on the land was inked between Container Company Bangladesh Limited (CCBL), a concern of Bangladesh Railway, and Saif Powertec on October 19 last year.

As per the agreement, E-Engineering Ltd JV has started to develop the spot by dumping soil.

According to the Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Ordinance Bill 2017, "Land used as a religious spot for worshipping and  graveyards or crematoriums cannot be acquired. However, such properties can be acquired for the sake of public interest through reconstructing or transferring the establishments at the cost of the person or organisation who wants the land."

Abdul Malek, yard master of CGPY, told The Daily Star, "We are not opposing the ICD terminal, but we've demanded to exclude the graveyard, the shrine and mosque from the agreement. The staffers are worried about the fate of the burial place of their dear ones."

Malek is also president of CGPY graveyard committee, which took charge last year.

Meanwhile, Central Railway Building (CRB) sources confirmed that the graveyard and mosque land are mentioned in the deed between Saif Powertec and BR.

The origins of the graveyard can be traced back to 1995, when Chattogram port authorities refused to bury a railway employee at the port graveyard on the ground that he's an "outsider".

This compelled railway staffers to bury him at the spot where the CGPY graveyard stands today, which was just a jungle and marshland at the time. Over the years, railway employees gradually developed it into a graveyard.

Former Railway Shramik Leaguepresident (jetty unit) and founder of CGPY mosque Abdul Wahab said, "It's a humanitarian issue. How will all the graves be relocated?"

Contacted, Jahangir Alam, general manager of railway (east zone), said, "During his visit, the railway minister verbally asked the construction company to keep the graveyard. They [the company] will preserve it somehow, although we're not going to issue written directives over the matter."

"The mosque will be shifted to another place but the graves will remain," he added.

Asked, Belal Uddin, managing director of Container Company of Bangladesh Limited, said "Yes, there is around one-acre of graveyard land on the place. We have assured railway staffers that the graveyard will stay in its current place. We have verbally asked the construction company not to develop the graveyard land. However, a boundary wall will be installed and visitors' movement will be controlled."

About the mosque, he said, "The mosque will be rebuilt in another place after the railway allocates land for it."

Saif Logistics Alliance Lid, a concern of Saif Power Group, will invest around Tk 300 crore to build the terminal on the land.

As per the contract, railway is set to handover the 21.29 acres of land within six months. Saif Logistics will construct the depot within two years.

Once it comes into operation, the private company will provide Tk 1.5 crore annually as fixed royalty and 21.50 percent of the total income on a monthly basis as variable royalty.

After 20 years, Saif Logistics will hand over the depot to CCBL, which expects to earn Tk 789 crore over the next two decades, officials said.

According to the new ICD policy, the proposed ICD terminal must be set up 20 kilometres off the port area to reduce traffic congestion.