Demolition of illegal structures starts in Patuakhali

Patuakhali district administration has started demolishing 111 illegal structures on both sides of the Ulania River in Galachipa upazila of the district.

The structures were built allegedly by the relatives of Golam Maula Rony, former lawmaker of Patuakhali-3 (Galachipa-Dashmina) constituency.

Led by executive magistrates Md Moeen Khan and Gokul Chandra Kabiraj, the drive started on Tuesday noon. Over 50 illegal structures were demolished as of filing of this report at 3:00pm yesterday.

The team with the help of law enforcers also recovered 1.74 acres of land where the illegal structures were erected.

On December 23, 2014, Amitabh Sarker, deputy commissioner (DC) of Patuakhali, issued eviction notices, asking the owners to remove their illegal structures from both sides of the river within seven days.

As they failed to comply with the order, the district administration has started knocking down the structures, said Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Mahbub Alam.

He said some local influential people grabbed 1.74 acres of land, filling both sides of the Ulania River. Local people said relatives of the former lawmaker sold each of the plots to businessmen for Tk two to three lakh.

In 2009, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) filed a writ petition with the High Court, seeking its ruling on the issue. One Monir Hossain of Ulania Bazaar also filed a case with a Patuakhali court in 2013 against the illegal occupiers.

Both the courts asked the DC to take necessary steps to demolish the illegal structures and recover the land.