N'ganj Railway Eviction Drive
50 injured as residents clash with police
More than 50 people, including unidentified journalists and nine policemen, were injured as residents of the district town's Railway Colony area clashed with police during an eviction drive yesterday.
Police fired some 50 rubber bullets, tear gas shells and used batons to bring the situation under control. Tension swept through the entire area as it turned into a battlefield for a series of clashes and chases.
The injured policemen include Officer-in-charge Manzur Quader and two sub-inspectors of Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station.
During the drive, about 25 to 30 shops were raged to the ground with bulldozers. The eviction zone included Nawab Sirajuddowla road and Narayanganj rail station area.
As the drive began around 10:00am, shop owners and residents resisted with sticks. They also set fire to tires and pelted the law enforcers.
Recently, the railway authorities have launched an eviction campaign to free railway land from illegal occupation.
The affected people claimed at a press conference yesterday that 42 shops and 110 dwelling houses were evicted and looted. The amount of loss was Tk 10 crore, they said.
According to the victims, the drive was conducted in violation of a High Court stay order.
Advocate Sakhawat Hossain, former general secretary of Narayanganj District Bar Association, said the High Court had issued a stay order on eviction of the dwelling houses and shops on 47,200 square feet area on the Railway Colony.
However, Narayanganj Executive Magistrate Abdur Rauf Talukder said a notice was served on the residents of the colony and shop owners to relocate, but they had not.
Railway Divisional Estate Officer Ahmedul Kabir said the rail administration had been working to recover the grabbed land around the railway stations and on both sides of the rail lines.
Vast areas of railway land have been under illegal occupation in Narayanganj Railway Station area and in the town, he said.
According to the official, the railway quarters have been declared abandoned much ago, and a decision has been taken to relocate the residents to new quarters at Gymkhana.
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