Silted riverbanks grabbing goes on in Jhenidah
A Correspondent | Friday, 1 April 2011
A Correspondent
JHENIDAH, Mar 31: Most of the rivers in Jhenidah district, including Chitra, Navaganga, Buribhairab, Kumar, Kapatakkha and Gorai see gradual shrinking and taking advantage of it a section of influential people, mostly belonging to political parties, are grabbing land on riverbanks. The grabbers constructed houses and even dug ponds on the riverbanks as the authorities overlook it and hardly take any legal action against them, locals alleged. Rashed Shamser, vice chairman of Kaliganj upazila parishad and a leader of ruling Awami League, allegedly grabbed 220 decimals of land on Buribhairab River in the same upazila. "I dug a pond on the bank of the Buribhairab River about ten years ago but the local authorities have served me a notice to free the land. To this end, I have filed a case against the notice as the land was purchased earlier," Rashed Shamser said. A number of influential people are also leasing occupied riverbeds or banks to common people for lakhs of taka. When contacted, Pranab Kumar Chakrabarty, additional deputy commissioner of Jhenidah said, "The district administration has started a drive to recover the rivers from grabbers and got back 20 ponds on the bank of Buribhairab River in last four days." "We have served notice on 97 grabbers in Jhenidah Sadar and 54 in Kaliganj upazila and the remaining ones will be served with notices to release the riverbank soon," he said. Swapan Biswas, a ruling party activist, was arrested when he was grabbing a piece of land immediately after the eviction, sources said. This correspondent recently visited a number of illegally occupied sites on the bank of rivers Navaganga, Chitra and Buribhairab. Iltutmish, living in a house constructed on the bank of Navaganga river, said the allegation of river grabbing is not true as he constructed his house on a piece of purchased land. Wazed Ali, a resident of Ghoppara village, accused of grabbing land on the same river, said, "I did not know that the plot is a government land. Now, if the government wants it back, I will comply with the order." Locals said a major portion of the bank of Chitra River in Kaliganj upazila have already been occupied.
JHENIDAH, Mar 31: Most of the rivers in Jhenidah district, including Chitra, Navaganga, Buribhairab, Kumar, Kapatakkha and Gorai see gradual shrinking and taking advantage of it a section of influential people, mostly belonging to political parties, are grabbing land on riverbanks. The grabbers constructed houses and even dug ponds on the riverbanks as the authorities overlook it and hardly take any legal action against them, locals alleged. Rashed Shamser, vice chairman of Kaliganj upazila parishad and a leader of ruling Awami League, allegedly grabbed 220 decimals of land on Buribhairab River in the same upazila. "I dug a pond on the bank of the Buribhairab River about ten years ago but the local authorities have served me a notice to free the land. To this end, I have filed a case against the notice as the land was purchased earlier," Rashed Shamser said. A number of influential people are also leasing occupied riverbeds or banks to common people for lakhs of taka. When contacted, Pranab Kumar Chakrabarty, additional deputy commissioner of Jhenidah said, "The district administration has started a drive to recover the rivers from grabbers and got back 20 ponds on the bank of Buribhairab River in last four days." "We have served notice on 97 grabbers in Jhenidah Sadar and 54 in Kaliganj upazila and the remaining ones will be served with notices to release the riverbank soon," he said. Swapan Biswas, a ruling party activist, was arrested when he was grabbing a piece of land immediately after the eviction, sources said. This correspondent recently visited a number of illegally occupied sites on the bank of rivers Navaganga, Chitra and Buribhairab. Iltutmish, living in a house constructed on the bank of Navaganga river, said the allegation of river grabbing is not true as he constructed his house on a piece of purchased land. Wazed Ali, a resident of Ghoppara village, accused of grabbing land on the same river, said, "I did not know that the plot is a government land. Now, if the government wants it back, I will comply with the order." Locals said a major portion of the bank of Chitra River in Kaliganj upazila have already been occupied.