CHATTOGRAM, Nov 03: A section of traders are felling trees indiscriminately in the port city to construct shops beside roads, on footpaths and in open spaces of Chattogram City Corporation violating rules.
Sources said some local influential people, including ruling-party leaders and workers, are constructing markets and shops illegally on government lands with permission from the previous administration of the CCC.
They have already felled scores of trees to erect permanent structures beside roads and sidewalks to build markets and shops by grabbing footpaths, roads and CCC's open spaces in Tara Gate, Shershah and Textile areas, it is alleged.
Sources said, a CCC councilor formally lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission's Chattogram office early last month against the former CCC administrator for illegally giving allotment of some government lands and footpaths to some influentials, including ruling party men for commercial use.
Those who got allotments of the lands are leaders and cadres of front and affiliated organisations of the ruling party, the CCC councilor who preferred not be named, said.
"Local leaders and cadres of the ruling party's front and affiliated organisations are constructing a total of 189 shops on the footpaths illegally by taking permission from the CCC in the name of some so-called associations," he said.
It is reported that the former administrator of the CCC took a handsome amount of money from each trader for providing permission to them to set up 189 shops on the sidewalks.
Locals said, the traders who are constructing the shops cut at least 100 trees in Textile and Shershah Suri areas.
It is alleged that local leaders of the ruling party have taken possession of the shops giving Tk 0.2 million (Tk 200,000) for each shops to former CCC administrator Khorshed Alam Sujan.
It is also alleged that they are now reselling to small traders each shop at Tk 0.3 million to Tk 0.5 million.
Salah Uddin, a Jubo League leader who took the possession of shop number 65 in Textile Gate area said that he had paid money for the shop to the then CCC administrator Khorshed Alam Sujan.
Another Jubo League leader Bahar Uddin took the possession of shop number 64 and his co-comrade Shahajahan took shop number 62 while other JL men took the remaining shops on footpaths. Locals said, in this way, most of the footpaths in Shershah, Tara Gate and Textile areas have been grabbed by illegal occupiers.
Talking with the FE recently, incumbent Mayor of the CCC Rezaul Karim admitted that the footpaths were given (to the occupiers) by former CCC administrator Khorshed Alam Sujan violating the rules.
"There is no footpath in the city which was not allocated to (such people) in the name of beautifying the port city. But previous administrator of the CCC Khorshed Alam Sujan allocated footpaths for setting up temporary shops which is illegal and violation of the law," he said.
"As previous administrator of CCC Khorshed Alam Sujan allocated the footpaths for setting up shops, eviction of the illegal occupiers are difficult for me," he added.
Sources said, the CCC evicted some illegal establishments from footpaths in Shershah and Tara Gate and Textile Point areas on October 18 last year.
Contacted, Chief Revenue Officer of CCC Najrul Islam told the FE that he issued a letter to set up shops on footpaths in those areas as per directives of the then administrator of CCC Khorshed Alam Sujan on January 2021.
According to sources at the CCC, the corporation illegally allocated a large number of such shops to some fake associations.
It allocated 66 shops to Small Traders Association, 100 shops to Tara Gate Traders Association and Shershah Road Traders Association. But the occupiers are constructing 99 more shops on footpaths of Tara Gate area. They are selling all the illegal shops at Tk 3 to 5 lakh each. It is reported that Tara Gate Traders Association, Shershah Road Traders association and one more organisation, styled Small Traders Association are formed by local leaders of the ruling party.
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