The district administration of Dhaka has recovered 30 decimals of the endowed property worth about Tk200 crores of “Sri Sri Lakshmi Narayan Jiu Mandir Vigraha” in Motijheel of the capital.
Motijheel Revenue Circle Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Executive Magistrate Mahmudul Hasan conducted this operation on Saturday.
He said that for a long time, some local influential people had illegally occupied 30 decimals of the endowed property. The recovery was carried out on the orders of the deputy commissioner of Dhaka.
According to the law, there is no provision for the sale of endowed property. The recovered land will be handed over to the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust.
Hasan mentioned that the existing structure will be demolished, and a new temple will be built in its place. Previously, the site housed an Ansar camp, which, after being removed, was occupied by influential individuals using fake ownership documents.
Upon the temple committee’s application and subsequent investigation, the illegal occupation was confirmed, leading to the recovery operation.
The recovered land includes 0.3800 acres of plot. The managing trustees, Sujit Kumar Bose and Ping Sachindra Nath Bose of No. 3 Harish Chandra Babu Street, Bangla Bazar, Dhaka, have maintained the latest city records. However, unscrupulous businessmen had long been encroaching on the property, constructing illegal structures and shophouses.
Subrata Pal, vice chairman of the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust, said that 36 decimals of the land had been in the hands of illegal occupants.
An application was made to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka to reclaim the property.
Pal affirmed plans to build a new temple on the recovered land, where a temple once stood.
