Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the minister and officials concerned of the railway ministry to take steps to recover its properties from illegal possessors.
She asked them to prepare lists of its properties, amount of illegally occupied properties.
The instruction was given during the discussion on two draft acts tabled by the railway ministry in the cabinet meeting held at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair on Monday.
The drafts of the 'Railway Security Force (Railway Nirapotta Bahini) Act' and 'Railway Properties (Illegal Possession Recover) Act' were tabled in a cabinet meeting for its approval.
The cabinet approved the Railway Nirapotta Bahini Act finally on condition of vetting of the law ministry while the draft of the Railway Properties Illegal Possession Recover Act got the approval in principle, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
The railway properties illegal possession recovery act will be tabled in the cabinet again incorporating the observations of the cabinet for final approval before sending it to the parliament while the RNB Act will be sent to the parliament after vetting of the law ministry, he added.
He said both of the drafts were prepared to legitimate the Railway Security Force (Railway Nirapotta Bahini) Ordinance, 1976 and Railway Properties (Illegal Possession) Ordinance, 1979 which became invalid after a judgement of the Supreme Court that declared the two military regime of Bangladesh as illegal.
The draft acts specified some definition of railway assets, work distribution, passengers and passenger areas.
Meanwhile, Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the government will take necessary steps to recover illegally occupied properties of railway after getting the report of the ministry.
A task force might be formed to recover the properties from illegal occupants, he added.