CHATTOGRAM, Mar 4: The Chaktai Bhera Market colony was set up on the khas land by six land grabbers and their cohorts, according to a report by an enquiry committee.
The committee was formed by the district administration to investigate the cause of a devastating fire that took place at the colony on February 17.
In its report submitted to the Deputy Commissioner recently, the committee recommended reclaiming the khas land by demolishing illegal houses in the six colonies in the area.
The four-member committee was headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Chattogram Md Mashudul Kabir.
According to the report, six persons erected hundreds of bamboo-made houses in the Chaktai Bhera Market colony and rented them to poor people. The colony was set up on the government khas land 35 years ago.
The report said the fire originated from an electrical short-circuit in one of the houses and that there was no act of sabotage behind the fire.
The owners of the illegal thatched houses have been identified as Farid Sawdagar, Abu Tayab, Sattar, Nurul Amin Haji, Aziz and Kabir.
They have been earning a huge sum of money from rent but none of them were residing there, said the report.
This gang of illegal grabbers has as many as 48 cohorts who are helping them rent out the houses, it added.
On February 17, eight people, including children and women, were killed and 182 houses reduced to ashes in the devastating fire at the busy Chaktai area near the Marine Drive Road on the bank of the Karnaphuli.
Following the fire incident, Deputy Commissioner of Chattogram Md Ilyas Hossain formed the enquiry committee.
After receiving the report, he said the district administration has already started dismantling illegal structures along the river and the Bhera Market will also be demolished soon to reclaim the khas land.
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