Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jabed has instructed the authorities concerned to remove all illegal structures from both banks of the Karnaphuli River, in line with a High Court order.
The minister gave the instruction when he was visiting an eviction site on the river bank at 4pm on Saturday.
He said: “I want to clearly say all illegal structures on the Karnaphuli River of the city will be removed from Monday.”
The minister further said that no matter how powerful the owners of the illegal establishments were, they would still face eviction.
"Now I am receiving many phone calls asking for more time to move the establishments. There is no scope for complying with the requests. We have given you a long time. Now we have nothing to do. The eviction drives against illegal structures by the Karnaphuli River will begin on Monday," he added.
According to the land minister, the eviction area has been divided into several zones, and 10 acres of land by the river will be reclaimed after 200 illegal structures are demolished in the first zone.
"The budgetary allocation for the eviction drives has already been approved. Therefore, I want your all-out cooperation in this regard. The Karnaphuli River is an asset of Chittagong and we must protect it rising above political identity. The survival of the port city depends on the survival of the Karnaphuli," he said.
High-level officials of the district administration, including Deputy Commissioner Ilias Hossain, were present at the time.
On August 16, 2016, the High Court directed the authorities concerned to remove 2,112 structures illegally built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River in response to a writ petition.
The writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh sought directives from the High Court to save the river, citing media reports of rampant encroachment on its banks.
In the petition, a number of individuals, owners of business houses and slums, a container terminal, and six government entities were accused of erecting illegal structures at the Bakalia, Patenga, Madrabari, Ghosail Danga, Monoharkhali, and Firingi Bazar areas on the banks of the river.