BR launches eviction drive along rails at Karwan Bazar

Railway authorities dismantled makeshift shops and markets along rails in Karwan Bazar area in an eviction drive since Friday morning.
The eviction drive was launched following the death of four people being hit by two running trains in that area last Thursday.         
A team of Government Railway Police, led by Nurun Nabi Kabir, divisional estate officer of Bangladesh Railway, and also a first-class magistrate, launched the drive at 9.00 am.
Rafiqul Islam, sub-inspector of Kamalapur Railway Police Station, said the drive was conducted from the Film Development Corporation (FDC) gate to Tejgaon rail-station. The drive was suspended at about 1pm. Officials said the similar drive will continue.
Four people, including two women, were killed and five others injured as they got trapped between two rail tracks and were hit by two moving trains at Karwan Bazar on Thursday morning when the local rail-side fish bazaar was abuzz.
Vendors set up illegal makeshift outlets on the rail tracks at Tejgaon and Karwan Bazar daily. The hawkers remove their goods when trains approach and are back on the tracks once the trains pass by.
Locals say eviction drives take place regularly to clear the tracks of the market but they are not enough to stop the practice, a news agency report.
A three-member committee was formed during the last Ramadan to prevent the setting up of such makeshift markets near the Tongi and Tejgaon level-crossings.
Asked about the progress, railway official Nur Nabi Kabir said, "The High Court had ordered the railway authorities not to evict slums in the rail-crossing areas long ago. The order is being followed."
Railway accidents take place mainly at level crossings at places in this crowded city and Dhaka railway division has over 100 such crossings.
Of them, crossings in Tejgaon, Karwan Bazar, Malibagh, Khilgaon, Nakhalparha and Airport areas in the city have been identified as risky.
Railway's Dhaka region Divisional Manager Qamrul Ahsan blamed such illegal markets and illegal slums right next to the tracks for the accident.
He attributed their failure to evict them to lack of manpower.
Apart from trains running between Dhaka city and Narayanganj, Islam said 96 trains run between Kamalapur and Tongi daily, says a bdnews24.com report.
On Aug 1, a private car was hit by a train when it tried to cross the line ignoring signal at Malibagh. Three car passengers were injured.
Redowan Biswas, a commuter on the Malibagh route, said the vehicles do not pay heed to train signals. "Many cross the tracks with earphones on," he said.
Many floating and makeshift traders are still doing business at many points of the rail tracks running through the capital, which could cause more such tragic incidents.
During a visit to the capital's Wireless Railgate in Boro Maghbazar, Malibagh, Khilgaon and Jurain areas on the day, traders were found sitting on the railway tracks with daily necessities risking their lives.
The traders were also seen hurriedly leaving the tracks whenever a train approached and then regrouping following departure of the trains.
Talking to the FE in Malibagh Railgate area, a floating vegetable vendor, Nazrul Islam, said they came there to sell kitchen items eyeing additional number of customers.
"We know it's dangerous but we don't have enough financial capacity to afford a shop," said Islam.
Md. Shahin, who runs a makeshift shop at the place, said he took the space by paying Tk 25,000 in advance to some ones he dares not to name.
"(I'm) sorry I cannot mention their names. If I do, I'll lose position of my shop," he added.
Seeking anonymity, a vendor at Khilgaon makeshift market said the markets are dominated by a strong network of local police, railway officials and leaders of front organisations of the ruling party.
Minutes after the conversation, a member of community police was found collecting tolls from the floating traders. He then hurriedly left the spot, sensing presence of a journalist.
However, the BR evictors started their drive with the help of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). They bulldozed illegal structures installed on both sides of the double-line rail tracks, Nurun Nabi Kabir said.
Responding to a question, he said the BR authorities paid their attention on the illegal establishments for the sake of public safety following Thursday's tragedy.
"That's why we demolished those structures and we'll not allow anyone to build illegal structures here in future," Mr. Kabir said.
When his attention was drawn about other areas where makeshift and floating trading was allowed upon the railway tracks, he paused for a few seconds, and then said that eviction drive would also be taken in other places in phases.
Traders who have been affected by the drive made an allegation that they rented the shops from one 'Siraj Commander' by paying Tk 20,000 in advance and paid Tk 150 in addition daily.
Billal Hossain, a garage owner, said Siraj Commander used to live in a shanty close to the railway tracks. But his room was found locked from outside soon after Thursday's accident.     
But railway authorities and local police have blown off the allegation of kickbacks, saying that it was made only to shift the blame.  
 "The shopkeepers and traders should inform them about activities of the rent collectors. I think the drive will help lessen the chance of accident," Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Tejgaon Police Station Mazharul Islam said.
When contacted, the OC of Kamalapur Rail-station, Md. Abdul Mojid, said Karwan Bazar, Wireless Railgate in Boro Maghbazar, Malibagh, Khilgaon and Jurain are among the risky railway areas in the capital.