Fresh drive to clear rail tracks in city

A fresh drive to clear encroachment on railway tracks in and around Dhaka city has started again, about 12 hours after BNP-enforced hartal. Illegal structures were being brought down by bulldozers and cleared in the city's Cantonment area on Tuesday morning. The drive that started last week had to be called off momentarily due to the successive strikes called by Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP-led 20-party alliance. The drive resumed at 10:00am today from the east side of Dhaka Cantonment. The tracks leading to Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) International Airport from the Cantonment will be cleared of all encroachments, Railway’s Dhaka Divisional Estate Officer Nurunnabi Kabir said. Four people died at a fish market on Karwanbazar railway tracks after they were caught between two passing trains. That tragedy prompted railway authorities to start the eviction drive. Nurunnabi said evictions will also take place tomorrow and the day after, according to a news agency.