TURAG RIVER DEMARCATION River Commission, BIWTA at loggerheads

National River Conservation Commission and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority are at loggerheads over the demarcation of the Turag River.

The commission thinks a portion of the disputed areas at Dwigun and Goran Chatbari moujas under Mirpur Circle as private properties owned by Olympic Cement Ltd, Moksed Hossain gong and Abdul Halim gong while the BIWTA believes that those business and private owners illegally encroached on the Turag channel and its foreshore.

On July 20, writing a letter to the assistant commissioner (land) of the Mirpur Circle, the commission said that they could not come to a conclusion regarding the dispute as BIWTA had not concurred with the opinions of the other members of the probe committee formed by the shipping ministry’s task force on saving rivers last September.

Mirpur Circle assistant commissioner Asgar Hossain told New Age on Wednesday that he had informed the matter to both deputy commissioner Dhaka and ADC (revenue) seeking their directives.

River commission document shows that the probe committee was formed on September 20, 2018 to solve the dispute within two months following the said ‘owners of lands’ complained to both the commission and Mirpur Circle against BIWTA alleging it was forcing them to leave the area for its beautification project of Dhaka’s rivers.

The river commission chairman was made convenor of the committee. Other members were the representative of shipping ministry, DG land records or survey or his representative, ADC (land) Dhaka, BIWTA chairman or his representative and AC land Mirpur.

The BIWTA representative declined to sign the probe report prepared following the verification of records, visits to the disputed places and taking testimonies of the locals, river commission chairman Muzibur Rahman Howlader said.

Howlader further added that committee members found that ABC Redymix Cement, Maisha Construction and Tiles grabbed the Turag channel but not Olympic Cement, Moksed Hossain gong and Abdul Halim gong.

However, BIWTA claimed in writing that Olympic Cement and Moksed Hossain gong and Abdul Halim gong were also among the river grabbers as had been determined according to the foreshore map of the river prepared jointly by it and Dhaka district administration in 2005.

BIWTA’s Dhaka River port officer AKM Arif Uddin said that the disputed site looked like an island during the monsoon.

‘I guess some corrupt officials of AC land office and directorate of land records and survey prepared forged documents in favour of the said owners by tampering with the survey records as it happened with many other places,’ he said.

BIWTA chairman commodore M Mahbub-ul Islam on Wednesday said that it was facing similar disputes over 3,855 demarcation pillars of five Dhaka rivers, which had been installed by the agency since 2010.

The land ministry records show that 2815.56 acres of government land was recorded as private property in an unknown number of individuals during Dhaka City Survey Record-of-Rights better known as Dhaka City Survey done between 1999 and 2010.

Olympic Cement Ltd manager SM Kawsar Ali claimed that they purchased 127 decimal land for developing a factory and had all the valid documents.

‘We did not get remedy, even though a High Court division bench in 2016 ordered to the concerned agencies to solve the land dispute within a month following our appeal,’ he claimed.

New Age could not contact Moksed Hossain gong and Abdul Halim gong.  

New Courtesy: www.newagebd.net