Govt land ‘grabbed’ for building hospital

The under-construction Islami Bank Medical College and Hoispital on a 'grabbed' land at Naodapara on the outskirts of Rajshahi city. PHOTO: STAR

The land along the Rajshahi-Naogaon highway near the airport belongs to the Roads and Highways Department (R&H), its officials claimed.

They said they tried several times to recover the land but failed due to political intervention.

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The alleged land grabbing has created problems for local residents as well because they have lost passages to their plots, some of them alleged while talking to this correspondent recently.

On behalf of the residents, one Saidur Rahman last week filed a case with Rajshahi Senior Assistant Judge's court, alleging that passages to their plots have been encroached because of the land grabbing by IBF. He accused seven persons in the case.

The court on July 16 issued a show-cause notices on the seven accused including Dr Zahangir Alam, Director of the project and administrative officer Imajuddin Mondol.

In 2002, after the IBF started construction of an Islami Bank Medical College and Hospital on the land , the residents in separate letters to Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner and the R&H Department alleged that IBF grabbed parts of their lands along with government lands.

They also said that construction of a high-rise building near the Rajshahi Airport would also create problem for air traffic.

The IBF plans to construct a 500-bed hospital on the land.

The R&H Department in March last year attempted to recover the land, but returned without even assessing the captured land due to obstruction by musclemen, R&H sources said.

"They (grabbers) are using political influence and muscle power and do not care government records", R&H Executive Engineer Delwar Hossain said talking to this correspondent recently.

"How we will file a case when we can't even asses the captured land?", he said replying to a question.

The R&H Department in May this year wrote a letter to Public Prosecutor Quamrul Monir to serve a legal notice on IBF, but the notice has not yet been served, the sources said.

When contacted, Imajuddin Mondol, denied the allegations and said the land was purchased from one Habiba Begum.

"The then DC several years ago donated some three bighas of land to Habiba, who sold it to us", Mondol said.

"Different government records showed the land as a private property. We need not see R&H records. So there is no question of land grabbing", he said replying to a question.

Asked about the matter, Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Sayed Ahsanul Haque said he would inquire how the district administration could donate a roadside land belonging to R&H department to an individual.

"Such donation is illegal. Let us inquire it first", he said.