The railway authorities carried out a fresh eviction drive yesterday to demolish illegal structures beside rail tracks in the capital’s cantonment area, amid allegations that some establishments were spared as they paid regular toll to law enforcers.
More than a hundred illegal structures were demolished by bulldozers in the hour-long drive that started around 10am. However, bulldozers spared seven restaurants – allegedly built illegally on the car parking site of the Dhaka Airport Railway Station’s land – and a makeshift kitchen market on the eastern side of the station.
The drive started near Banani Railway Station and ended at the Shahjalal International Airport area.
Locals claimed that restaurants and the kitchen market were spared as the Government Railway Police (GRP) daily extracted Tk400 from each of the restaurants, while GRP linemen also extracted tolls from the kitchen market.
Meanwhile, as there was no announcement prior to the eviction drive, the slum dwellers of Kuril locked in an altercation with the GRP and the Railway Nirapotta Bahini when the eviction team went to demolish the illegally-built huts. The police, however, brought the situation under control after allowing the slum-dwellers one hour to move their valuables.
Witnesses said the bulldozers tore down slums, small houses and makeshift shops on the both sides of the railway track; while some managed to shift their houses before the bulldozers started knocking those down.
Asked why the team did not evict the restaurants and the kitchen market, Officer-in-Charge of Kamalapur GRP Abdul Majid said action against those establishments would be taken later as the land they were on was disputed. He, however, did not elaborate on the land dispute issue. The OC also denied allegations of collecting toll from those illegal establishments.
“We will let no illegal establishment stand near the railway track in the capital. The drive will continue until September 29. The team will demolish all establishments up to Uttara.
“We have also intensified vigilance at the spots where the illegal establishments have already been evicted so that the grabbers cannot return,” Majid said. He added that the new land-grabbers would be brought to book.
The railway authority and the police begun eviction drives to clear the rail tracks soon after four people were killed and five others were injured when a train ploughed through a crowd near the rail track at Karwan Bazar on September 11.
So far, the eviction drive has covered areas including Karwan Bazar, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Nakhalpara and Mohakhali.
Railway’s Dhaka Divisional Estate Officer Nurunnabi Kabir said the drive that started last week had to be called off temporarily because of the successive strikes called by the Jamaat and the BNP.
“We did not get enough personnel because of the hartals. So we had to put the drive on hold,” he said, adding that the evictions would take place regularly sparing no one.