700 acres of khas land recovered from grabbers in Ctg
Under Jungle Salimpur Master Plan, the Divisional Forest Management Office, Chattogram Central Jail, Sports Village, Safari Park will be constructed there, DC says
The Chattogram district administration has recovered 700 acres of khas land in Sitakunda upazila that have been illegally occupied by some land grabbers for the past 30 years.
In a drive led by Chattogram Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mohammad Mominur Rahman conducted in Jungle Salimpur and Alinagar area on Tuesday, the administration demolished 175 illegal establishments there to recover 3,100 acres of the government land.
"In the vacated land, the administration installed a signboard of the proposed establishment as part of the implementation of Jungle Salimpur Master Plan," Chattogram DC Mohammad Mominur Rahman told The Business Standard.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
He further said a Divisional Forest Management Office, Chattogram Central Jail, Sports Village, Safari Park and temporary camp of RAB and police will be constructed there.
"All the illegal instalments will be demolished within the next one month. A planned city will be established in the khas land. Under the government's Ashrayan project, landless people will also be rehabilitated there," the DC also said.
Police Super SM Rashidul Alam, who joined the drive, said alongside various government offices, entertainment projects will also be implemented there.
"At present, eight police members are on-duty at security posts. Besides, we have fixed a place there for setting up a police outpost and a RAB camp," he added.
Mofidul Alam, director of the Department of Environment (Chattogram), said 30% of hills in Jungle Salimpur and Alinagar areas were cut. It must be protected. In a previous drive, more than 300 illegal structures were also evicted.
On the other hand, hundreds of residents of these establishments blocked Faujdarhat-Bayezid Link Road on Wednesday, protesting the demolition of their houses without any prior notice.
An organisation named "Chattogram Mahanagar Chinnamul Bostibasi Sammonoy Sangram Parishad" built these settlements on government land in the area.
In the last decade, neither law enforcement agencies nor journalists have been able to enter the area thanks to the security forces of the illegal land grabbers.
In 2010, Lal Badsha and Ali Akkas groups locked into a clash over the control of these illegal settlements in the hill areas. On 23 May of that year, Ali Akkas was killed in a reported gunfight with RAB. Then, Yasin, a land grabber, established his control in these settlements.
