A local UP chairman has illegally shifted the 60-year-old office of Charbaria union parishad in the city from donated land to rented premises, allegedly to grab the land and trees, which are worth lakhs.
Locals said the Charbaria UP office compound, a 32 decimal piece of donated land with well built permanent structures, had recently been shifted to a small rented tin-shed.
It was alleged that acting UP chairman Alamgir Hossain, had arranged this shifting without any approval from the concerned authorities.
The new office is a small room in Taltali Bazaar, about 1.5 kilometres from the old office.
Sources said in absence of Chairman Ziaul Islam Sabu, Alamgir, who is also the Sadar upazila BNP vice-president, had taken the opportunity to meet his own ends.
Sabu, after returning from performing Hajj also gave verbal consent and went on hiding due to his political activities, sources added.
Adbullah Al Mamun and Faisal Ahmed Papan, two local residents, said their family had donated the property for the Charbaria UP office in 1952, and since then the UP office and its associated service centres had been run from there in pukka buildings and tin-shed structures.
Without any approval from the concerned authorities and consent of the stakeholders, the UP office had been transferred with the intention to grab the valuable property and the large trees there, worth at least one crore taka, alleged Mokhlesur Rahman, a resident of the area.
A seven-day legal notice had been served to the upazila executive officer and the UP chairman on December 18 demanding the restoration of the UP office to its permanent location, locals said.
Shamima Ferdousi, the UNO of Sadar upazila, acknowledged that the shifting of the office had not been permitted by any authorities and she had asked the UP to relocate the office.
Stakeholders could also take legal action against the illegal move, she suggested.
UP chairman and BNP leader Sabu was not available for comments.
Acting chairman Alamgir Hossain claimed that the decision to shift the office to a central location within the UP area had been approved by the UP members. He said the old office was located at a corner of the UP area and had a shortage of sufficient storage facilities.