Building occupies canal land in Jhalakathi

In Jhalakathi's Kathalia Bazar, about 250 metres from Kathalia upazila administrative building, construction of a modern building is underway on an illegally occupied portion of the Kathalia – Awra Canal.

Behind the project, Monjurul Kabir Parvez Jommader, an Awami League activist who is also a local and national daily correspondent, has already had a bamboo fence erected around the site, with some of the canal area sand filled. But no remedial action from the administration is in sight.

According to a few locals, Parvez is so influential that nobody dares to speak out about his wrongdoings.

"He not only grabbed the canal but also the road beside the canal," says one local on condition of anonymity.

When asked about the construction on canal land, Parvez says "We have constructed the building on our own land; the canal is the boundary and we have previously given our land for the road alongside the canal."

 Kathalia's upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Dr Sharif Mohammad Faizul Alam denies knowledge of the project. "I have recently joined here," he says, "I am not informed about this. But I will take the necessary action after visiting the place very soon." None has the right to build any structure on canal land, he adds.

"I will send a surveyor to the place and take immediate action after getting a report from him," says the UNO.