CHATTOGRAM, Sept 13: A number of taskforce committees have been formed to create a master plan focused on eco-friendly development in the slums of Jungle Salimpur at Sitakunda in Chattogram.
The committees held a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday. Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Ahmad Kaikaus presided over the meeting.
The taskforce committees have been asked to put forward the plans and their implementation process, aimed at evicting slum dwellers, except the genuine landless people, from Jungle Salimpur within one month, said a press release issued by Chattogram District Administration.
Deputy Commissioner of Chattogram Mohammad Mominur Rahman, who attended the meeting, said, "We have received lists of genuine landless people living in the slums. Those landless will be rehabilitated in their upazilas under Ashrayan and Guchhogram projects."
He further said, "All those who destroyed hills, cut down trees and built illegal structures on government land will be brought to book and those whose names were mentioned in the cases will be arrested."
In the meeting, local authorities concerned and law enforcement agencies were asked to recover around 3,100 acres of land in the area known as a 'terrorist den'.
Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, who was present in the meeting, declined to make any comment.
Among others, higher officials of Public Security Division, Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Department of Local Government, Department of Power, Ministry of Land, Department of Rural Development and Cooperatives, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Department of Security Services, and Department of Law and Justice were present at the meeting.
The district administration has been conducting drives for the last two months to evict illegal structures built by cutting hills in the slum area while the residents of the area have long been demanding their rehabilitation before eviction.
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