Eviction drive at Panchagarh Railway Station, Railway authorities demolish 40 illegal structures

The Land Property Department of Bangladesh Railway has started an eviction drive in the Panchagarh Railway Station area due to illegal occupation of government land, construction of floating shops and construction of unauthorized structures. The drive was conducted on Tuesday (July 21) afternoon under the leadership of Railway Divisional Magistrate Manjur Hossain in collaboration with Panchagarh Sadar Police Station and Railway Police.
During the drive, a total of 40 structures, including small and large houses, shops and other illegal structures on railway land, were demolished with excavators. At this time, small traders have lost their only source of income and are distraught. Allegedly, they have not received a license despite trying for a long time. They also alleged that although 40 taka has been fixed for every square foot of land, the concerned officers and employees have demanded lakhs of taka for the license.
Nurjahan Begum, whose house was demolished in the eviction drive, said, “I am an orphan. I have no parents. I am asking for two lakh taka, which I cannot give. That is why my house is being demolished, look what they have done.” In this regard, Manjur Hossain, Executive Magistrate and Divisional Land Property Officer of Lalmonirhat Division of Bangladesh Railway, said, “As part of the eviction program that we are regularly conducting on behalf of Bangladesh Railway, we are conducting an eviction drive at Panchagarh Railway Station.” He further said, “We started this process six months ago. We went to each of their shops. We told them that you will get a license as per the government policy. If you do not get a license, you will be evicted from here. After that, we installed a microphone. Our Kanungo Sahib came and gave a red mark to every shop without a license. Today we have come to evict. We have evicted all the illegal establishments.”