Sajjad Hossain

Two years after labelling a shipping company as the district’s top river grabber, Munshiganj district administration has taken a U-turn on that revelation.

Potato farms cover about half of the 67,000 hectares of arable land in Dhaka’s Munshiganj district, making it the region’s main cash crop.

Gazaria upazila administration in Munshiganj has launched an investigation into the allegations against a company -- Three Angle Marine Ltd -- which has been occupying rivers, canals and land and was listed as an “illegal occupant” by the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC).

Though the district administration and National River Conservation Commission have identified the company as the top river grabber in Munshiganj, the shipping ministry has been helping boost its business by awarding it shipbuilding contracts.

Al-Amin worked at a metal ornament factory in the capital's Lalbagh area for 15 years.After the pandemic struck Bangladesh and the factory incurred losses due to a fall in sales, the factory had to eventually close down two weeks ago, leaving the 26-year-old unemployed.

Right under the authorities’ noses, unskilled drivers have been operating unregistered speedboats on the Padma’s Shimulia-Bangla Bazar route for over a decade.

Twenty-six people were killed as a speedboat capsized after it crashed into a sand-laden bulk carrier in the Padma river in Madaripur yesterday.