Govt to relocate 46 religious structures from riverbanks
BIWTA drive against illegal structures
Special Correspondent, Dhaka
The government has decided to relocate 46 religious structures built illegally on the banks of the Buriganga, Turag and Shitlakhya rivers. The shipping ministry has entrusted the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayor with arranging land to relocate these shrines, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) chairman Commodore M Mozammel Haque told The Independent yesterday. The committees of these religious establishments have agreed to relocate the shrines if the authorities arrange for alternative land, he said.
Even though these religious establishments have been built illegally on the river banks, we dont want to pull them down during the ongoing eviction drive. After all, the matter is highly sensitive. Weve decided to relocate them, the BIWTA chairman said in reply to a query.
According to Haque, the ministry will take immediate action after coordinating with the ministries concerned to re-construct or renovate 13 low-height bridges that pose major problems for the movement of water vessels on circular waterways around the city.
When contacted, DSCC chief resources officer Md Asaduzzaman said no coordination meeting had been held yet in this regard.
Its not a difficult task to build new places of worships by demolishing the old ones. Besides, its totally illegal to construct religious establishments without documents from the proper authorities, he added.
M Mozammel Haque said a total of 12,863 illegal structures had so far been demolished between 2010 and January 26, 2019. Besides, a total of 521.62 acres of river banks have been reclaimed through eviction from encroachment during this period, he added.
According to Haque, a total of 10 acres of river banks have been freed from encroachment during the eviction drive from January 29 to February 7. He also said as part of its 11-day drive, the BIWTA had pulled down as many as 118 illegal structures on the banks of the Buriganga river on Tuesday.
The BIWTA, with the help of the local administration, began the third phase of the eviction drive, led by executive magistrate Mostafizur Rahman, in Loharpul, Shahidnagar Balughat and Kamrangirchar Battery Ghat areas alongside the old channel of the river Buriganga on Tuesday.
The BIWTA has demolished a total of 1,317 illegal structures as of yesterday on the banks of the Buriganga river since the drive began on January 29.
Our team has pulled down a total of 118 illegal structures on Tuesday. They included three two-storey residential buildings, 38 semi-pucca houses, 35 tin-shade houses and 42 bamboo-made houses, the BIWTA chairman said.
He also said they reclaimed three acres during the eviction drive on that day. The second day of the third phase eviction was conducted in citys Nababchar under Kamrangirchar to Basila yesterday.
The BIWTA began its operation from January 29 and evicted a total of 444 illegal structures between January 29 and 31. Later, it started the second phase after four days interval from February 5. A total of 211 illegal structures were demolished on February 5 and 252 structures were knocked down on February 6.
The third phase drive began after five days of interval from Tuesday and will continue till February 14.
