CDA evicts 12 shop owners from 'illegal' building

The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) yesterday demolished 12 shops, which were housed in an "illegally" constructed two-storey building at Dampara of the port city.
The building was erected two years ago without CDA's permission, said Shahinul Islam Khan, chief town planner of CDA, one of the two officials who led the eviction drive.
He said his office had sent notices to the building owner four times asking him not to proceed with the construction and later informing of him of eviction drives.
"We could not conduct the drive earlier, as a writ petition was pending with the High Court," said the official said, adding that the owner had prayed for the status quo.
"As the court rejected the writ petition on Thursday, we have started eviction today," Shahinul said. "We asked the shop owners to remove their valuables by Thursday night."
However, the businessmen who had rented shops in the building said they were not given time enough to relocate.
On the spot, it was seen that the shop staff were struggling in removing the valuables during rain, when the CDA officials were demolishing the building. 
Arifur Rahman, a director of Asia Fashion, a tailoring and clothing shop, said they were informed about the drive suddenly at 6:00pm on Thursday.  "Four to five CDA officials visited us on Thursday evening and asked us to remove the valuables by the night," he said. "We did not have any preparation."
He said, "The shop was opened on February 14…we have invested Tk 3 crore here.... All the 22 staff of the shop will be jobless now."
Parvez Uddin, brother of the building owner Syed Ziad Rahman, said they filed two writ petitions, one in 2012 and the other in 2014, both seeking the status quo.
"The 2012 petition was disposed of and the other is still pending. But the CDA still demolished the building," he claimed. 
Meanwhile, police used batons injuring five shop staff and detained one staff when they tried to resist the drive.

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