A group of people with the blessing of ruling party leaders, have set up a grocery market in front of the Green Road Government Staff Quarter in the Kalabagan area of the capital, taking up a walkway and a portion of Mirpur road, and hindering pedestrian movement.
Furthermore, another group of encroachers set up fruit stalls selling chemical-free mangos just opposite of the site at Kolabagan Cricket Academy.
Local people said the encroachers with the help of some leaders of organisations associated with the ruling party have set up the makeshift shops on the walkway.
Shahidul Islam, a resident of Kalabagan, said: “At first the kitchen market set up on the staff quarter grounds and recently it shifted to the walkway after facing resistance from the quarter authority.”
“Because of the kitchen market we cannot walk smoothly- additionally, rubbish from kitchen goods also makes the walkway and the main road dirty and muddy,” he said.
Another resident of Dhanmondi area, Afroja Parvin, said: “We have to block our noses with clothes while crossing the point due to the bad odour.” She added that authorities should take measures to free the footpath.
Meanwhile, shop owners at the market have acknowledged that they had established the shops in the area as leaders of the ruling party’s associate organisations gave them verbal permission to do so. But, they declined to give any names.
A makeshift shop owner, preferring to remain anonymous, said: “Each shop owner has to pay Tk40 to Tk50 per day.”
When the correspondent wanted to know the name of the toll collector, the shop owner said he was an activist of the ruling party.
During a visit to the spot, this correspondent found that a waste disposal container from the City Corporation has been stationed on the road, further disrupting the movement of vehicles.
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) officials said they were not aware of such an encroachment.
DSCC Chief Estate Officer Khalid Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have not yet been informed about allegations of encroachments in the area.”
“We will inspect the area. If we find an encroachment, we will take steps to free the space from the encroachment,” he said.
