A three acre land, worth Tk50 crore belonging to Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Bhaluka of Mymensingh has been allegedly grabbed by a group of goons.
Locals alleged that in cooperation with dishonest RHD officials, some local people have built houses, shops and a temple illegally on the land.
According to sources, RHD acquired the land from Bishnuram Mandal and Dinbandhu Namodas in 1968 and later in 1972 a gazette was released in this connection. In 1991, an office was built on it for RHD officials. However, since the office was not very active and there was no boundary wall around it, a group of people including Rafiqul Islam, Pranesh Das, Tipu Das, Nanda Das, Liton and some officials of RHD took control of the land. Initially they built a temple so that no one could evict them and gradually constructed 17-18 houses and rented them out. Some tenants then built big shops along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.
There is allegation that the executive engineer of RHD Shamim Al Mamun did nothing more than just writing to the district commissioner to evict the illegal settlers.
When contacted, leader of the land-grabbing group Rafiqul Islam asked the Dhaka Tribune not to write about his involvement in this regard. He claimed that RHD, for the work of Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, just rented the land from the owners; it never acquired the land.
Meanwhile, RHD official Ashraf Haq said, a group of miscreants had forcefully taken possession of the land. Another official ABM Saddam said that a letter had been sent to the district commissioner to appoint a magistrate for the eviction drive.
UNO of Bhaluka Kamrul Hasan said they would take action once RHD provided them with the list of the grabbers.
