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Follow-up

'Punish land grabber and rehabilitate 44 families'

Christians, HR activists demonstrate in Barisal, give memo to DC

Our Correspondent, Barisal
Members of the Christian community and human rights activists formed a human chain in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall in the city yesterday, demanding action against the realtor who forcibly evicted 44 poor Christian families from a slum at Baptist Mission Road on Saturday.
They also held a rally at the venue and then submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner demanding rehabilitation of the evicted families.
Addressing the rally, Johnson Merry Guha, assistant secretary of Baptist Church, claimed that 2.53 acres of land grabbed Olympic Properties Limited (OPL) was donated by British citizen Reverend Gordon Soddy to Bangladesh Baptist Association, a subsidiary of Baptist Church Trustee, in 1969 and it was non-transferable or non-saleable.
The land was earmarked for the ultra poor families of the community. A case is pending with the court
against the Olympic Properties Limited, who claimed to have purchased it from the Church Trustee, Guha added.
He urged the government to take action against the land grabber and rehabilitate the 44 poor Christian families.
Suranjit Dutta Litu, human right activist and local leader of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha- Christian Oikya Parishad, Paresh Boiragi, Dhiraj Kami Biswas, and Ujjal Kumar also spoke at the rally.
Meanwhile, AL lawmaker advocated Talukdar Md Yunus yesterday visited the area and talked to the members of the poor Christian families. He urged all to maintain law and order in the area and assured the affected families of taking necessary steps for their rehabilitation.
Locals and witnesses said armed cadres and labourers led by Shafikul Alam Gulzar, councillor of BCC ward-11 and former district treasurer of Awami League, evicted the 44 landless families from
2.53 acres of land on Saturday evening.
As soon as the eviction was complete, the perpetrators hung a signboard of proposed South Wave Medical College and Children's Hospital there. After the incident, the poor families took shelter in the adjacent Baptist church compound.
Ansar Ali Hawlader, a director of the Olympic Properties Ltd, said Reverend Asim Kumar Baroi, secretary Bangladesh Baptist Church Trust Association, sold the property for Tk 8.82 crore on February 8, 2012 where they plan to construct a private medical college and childhospital.
When they came to know about the deal, the Christian slum dwellers, claiming ownership of the land, lodged a case and got a temporary injunction. But the District Judge's Court vacated that injunction, Hawlader claimed.
Contacted, AL leader and BCC Councillor Gulzar said he only helped the OPL develop the land for construction of a medical college and children's hospital.