Though the Rapid Action Battalion wants to take possession of seven acres of land in Kamrangir Char area to set up its office, the task force on river protection has suggested that the government allot only 2.41 acres of land to the elite force.
The task force came up with the suggestion at a meeting held at the Shipping Ministry yesterday with Task Force Chief and Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan in the chair.
Earlier, the government had allotted seven acres of land to RAB 10. An official who attended the meeting said the RAB authority sought help from the authorities concerned, including the Dhaka district administration, to take possession of seven acres of land at Kamrangir Char.
After getting an application from the RAB authority, the district administration had formed a technical committee and a technical coordination committee and asked them to visit the site and submit reports. The committees did not find enough space which could have been allocated to the RAB.
During the visit, the committee members found that there are hospitals and other structures, city protection dams, wetlands and canals in the area. The government had also allotted the lands of the hospital and other structures to the RAB.
The report said, “A plot of 2.4044 acres of land might be allotted to the RAB.”
After the meeting, Shajahan Khan told reporters that the spaces would be given to the RAB authority, taking its physical position into account. The task force asked the authorities concerned to immediately take steps after inspecting the site.
The meeting decided to hand over the authority to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority from the district administration to maintain the boundary pillars installed on the banks of the Buriganga, Shitalakkha, Balu and Turag rivers.
The district administrations of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Gazipur had recently installed around 12,000 boundary pillars to demarcate these rivers. The pillars had been installed after evicting illegal grabbers.
The meeting also took decision to remove waste from the rivers and build third terminal in Shashanghat area, the minister added.
The meeting was informed that the authority had reclaimed some 131.34 acres of land since 2009 after demolishing around 2,554 permanent and makeshift illegal structures.