Plots in Turag up for sale

Everybody is very much aware of the sand traders encroaching on the Turag and erecting illegal structures by the riverbank in Amin Bazar and Diabari in the capital.

A big plinth has recently been raised grabbing a large portion of the river just opposite the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority's (BIWTA) Sinnirtek jetty on Mirpur flood embankment.

The grabber has raised the plinth about 10 feet above the water level which easily draws attention.

"A developer is filling up the river to sell the land as plots. Some BIWTA officials came to investigate, but there was a compromise," said a sand trader indicating exchange of bribe.

The trader did not tell the name of the developer and there was no signboard on the plinth to identify them. But it was evident that development work of the plinth was going on at a slow pace.

Posing as a potential buyer, this correspondent collected phone number [01720964557] of one of the grabbers Mizan Rahman. The grabber said they are going to fill up 167 decimals, of which 140 decimals has already been filled up.

He has already sold plots to seven to eight people at the rate of Tk 3 lakh per decimal. "You don't need to worry about papers. Many people will love to stay by the side of the river, so we filled it up," he 'assured'.

"We take this land on lease from BIWTA giving them Tk 6 lakh annually," said the manager of sand trader Md Zahirul's outlet when asked if they had grabbed the riverbank.

Zahirul is one of the sand traders, who occupy a stretch of around two kilometres of riverbank from Amin Bazar Bridge towards Ashulia.

Most of these sand traders were enlisted as illegal grabbers on the list of BIWTA as it had designated only 200 metres under the Bridge for their business.

Everything was 'managed' later as the sand traders are mostly local influential people from both Awami League and BNP. They now claim that they do the business 'legally' as they 'pay' BIWTA regularly.

The BIWTA jetty has been left abandoned now as the Tk 36-crore 'Circular Waterway Project' has failed. Now the jetty is used by some Rab officials as their temporary outpost.

Experts say the Turag along with its floodplain is very important for the capital as it works as the natural reservoir of floodwaters coming from the north through it.

During a walk on the bank towards Ashulia it was seen the grabbers erected signboards of 'ownership' of the riverbank.

Different developers have filled up portions of the floodplain and the riverbank, while some influential local people have encroached upon other.

Asked why BIWTA is not taking any action, an official said, "We are preparing a list of the encroachers." The official did not elaborate and requested to remain unnamed.

Earlier, BIWTA evicted several small and big illegal installations including a kitchen market established by Manowar Hossain Dipjal, local BNP leader and ward commissioner who is in jail now on corruption charges.

However, the authorities could not conduct any eviction drive along the banks since 2007.

Official sources say BIWTA evicted 394 encroachers between 2001 and 2007 from the banks of the Buriganga and Turag. The sources however could not say how many of those encroachers have returned to their previous state.

Local resident Jahangir Mia said the Turag was an affluent and wide river just two decades ago.

"Now the river has so narrowed that two boats cannot go side by side," he added.

Ironically, Biswas group, a developer filling up the floodplain on the other side of the river, has put up a signboard that reads "Biswas Lake City".