Squeezing public road in stealthy way
Originally a five-metre-wide dirt road made around 40 years ago, this important path passing through Garibulla Hazipara village in Saidpur upazila under Nilphamari district has become virtually unfit for plying of vehicles as a few unscrupulous locals have squeezed the road to about a metre width by building houses on it.Photo: STAR
A few unscrupulous people built 30 brick-built rooms on an important road at Garibullah Hazipara village in Saidpur upazila of the district, making the road virtually unfit for plying of vehicles for about a year. Consequently, several thousand people of surrounding villages are suffering a lot. Just after the independence, the local government department built a six-kilometre-long and five-metre-wide dirt road connecting Choumuhuni Bazaar-Benir Haat metalled road at Bangalipur rail gate point at one end and Saidpur town at the other end, locals said. Choumohoni Bazaar and Benir Haat are famous business centres while Saidpur town, also the upazila headquarters, has the country's largest rail workshop, a number of small industries and a large wholesale market. A large number of people from surrounding villages including Boitpara, Giriapara, Bhujaripara, Choumohoni of Saidpur upazila and Benir Haat of neighbouring Parbotipur upazila use the road daily for going to business centres, educational institutions, treatment centres and other places. In 2007, Luthfar Rahman, Azimuddin, Moklesur Rahman, Sabuj and Sohag, who have homesteads on both sides of the road passing through the village, extended their house areas by occupying portions of the road, said Mizanur Rahman, Ramijuddin and a few others of Garibullah Hazipara village. They constructed brick-built rooms and drains on around 300-metre-long encroached area of the road. Following complaints by the locals, the then chairman of concerned Bangalipur union parishad Musa Uddin Pramanik took an initiative to free the land but the influential occupiers foiled the bid. At one stage only about one-metre-width of the road remained in its 300-metre-long portion as 30 rooms were built in four years. As a result, movement of vehicles including rickshaw vans, cars, battery-run auto-rickshaws, microbuses and pick ups has remained stopped for one year although the rest of six-kilometre road has remained intact. During the period of last caretaker government, the illegal occupiers even ignored the order of assistant commissioner of land of Saidpur to free the land and managed to continue their occupation, said several inhabitants of Garibullah Hazipara village. Vehicles now move through another road, making the journey more time consuming and costlier. On contact, Azimuddin, one of the encroachers, said, "The portion of the road which is under my possession was my paternal property. I built a house on my own land and it is my legal right.” Four others, Luthfar Rahman, Moklesur Rahman, Sabuj and Sohag declined to talk to this correspondent despite repeated attempts by the latter. Shahzada Sarkar, present chairman of Bangalipur UP, said, "I have been elected recently and no one has lodged any complaint to me in this regard. If anyone has illegally occupied road within my jurisdiction I will take action to free it." Saidpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer Anarkoli Mahbub said, "I have not received any written complaint regarding road encroachment. I will investigate the matter and take necessary action."
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