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Rules defied in sand lifting near Buriganga bank

Staff Correspondent
A group of people have been extracting sand on a large scale from the bank and adjacent shallow river bed of the Buriganga at Basila although they have permission for extracting sand from the middle of the river.
The activity allegedly backed by activists of the ruling Awami League is exposing the residential area to erosion and threatening to change the very course of the river.
These people are also defying the permission given by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority by using 14 powerful dredgers while they have permission for only three.
The whole activity is being overseen by armed men in at least three engine boats patrolling the river.
A number of residents of Basila said they had filed complaints in writing with Hazaribagh Police Station about the plundering of the bank and the adjacent river bed in the last 10 days but
police have remained mysteriously silent.
Every day these hoodlums are extracting sand worth more thanTk5 lakh.
BIWTA Deputy Director (Port) Golam Kabir admitted that their highest authority issued permission for three dredgers for 30 days. "But we never permitted anyone to extract sand in a way that may threaten a township and the course of the river," he said.
BIWTA Chairman Abdul Mannan Howlader said as per rules these dredgers are supposed to extract sand from the middle of the river, not from the bank.
A team of three Detective Branch policemen, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Ahsan Habib, was patrolling the shore adjacent to ZH Sikder Women's Medical College and Hospital near the dredging site.
The law enforcers said they could not intervene in the matter despite their full knowledge that it was an illegal act.
"We know who these people are but we are unable to stop them until instructions come from the top officials,’ said ASI Habib. "You better keep away from them,’ he told this correspondent and our photographer.
Residents of Basila said armed activists of the Awami League are protecting the whole activity because of which they cannot even ap> oach the site and talk to these men.
One resident claimed that part of the extraction site consists of his land. *1 filed a gen era! diary with Hazaribagh Police Station but the police never came to stop them." he said.
About 50 locals yesterday urged all for help.
"The same group of people started extracting sand last year and vanished after making several crore taka within a very short time at the cost of our land and the river," said one person. He alleged that the police, BIWTA officials and local Awami League activists are directly involved in this illegal activity
vEach of these barges is loaded with sand in less than an hour for a charge ofTk 8,000. Nearly 150 barges are carrying sand daily," he added
The officer-in-charge of Hazaribagh Police Station said he has nothing to do with the sand extraction activity until BIWTAasks him to intervene.