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River up for grabbing?

UNO claims 3 acres of 'land' in Sandhya river; local AL lawmaker gives consent

PlNAKI ROY with JAH1RUL ISLAM JEWEL
The upazila nirbahi officer of Banaripara in Barisal has planted a signboard in the middle of the Sandhya river, marking out three acres of land for a "project".
The UNO, Syeed AZ Morshed Ali, did not try to hide what he was doing. "I have erected an enclosure in the river of my own accord as a char is emerging there and land grabbers might take it," he told The Daily Star.
However, no char (shoal) is seen there.
The UNO, who is responsible for protecting the rivers from being encroached upon, said he has not allocated "the land" to people as, he thinks, they would not be able to use it properly.
The signboard reads: "Senior citizens' park, rest house, recreation centre, food court, and a mosque and a temple".
The river seems to have been encroached upon with at least the consent of the local Awami League lawmaker.
"I have informed the DC [deputy commissioner] about the enclosure and also talked to the local MP about taking up a project and having it okayed by the government. The MP has agreed to it," UNO Syeed said, adding that the municipality would be able to do the job quickly.
The MP, Talukder Md Yunus of Barisal-2, told The Daily Star over the phone that the UNO had showed him the river stretch while they were crossing the
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Sandhya on a ferry. The UNO had talked about his plans too.
"It is necessary to register it as government khas land in khas khatian. Only then can we mobilise funds for the project," the lawmaker said.
Deputy Commissioner Md Shahidul Alam of Barisal did not know that his subordinate was actually grabbing the river by building the enclosure.
"The UNO of Banaripara did not inform me at all about such a project and any land in the Sandhya.”
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, responsible for
managing and protecting the river routes and ports, was clueless as well.
"The UNO has no right to take the 'land' if the DC does not permit or if the 'land' is under BIWTA's jurisdiction. No one has the right to use it for any purpose,” said Md Shahidullah, joint director of BIWTA (Port).
"If the river is used for vessels, nobody can take the land without our permission and we did not give permission to anyone," he said, adding that they would visit the area as soon as possible.
However, Golam Saleh Monju Molla, the mayor of Banaripara municipality and local Awami League
leader, said he knew about the project.
He said they needed some land for a crematory, graveyard, and Eidgah Maidan and had asked for land. "But we don't want the land where the UNO placed a signboard in the Sandhya river."
However, UNO Syeed is not the first one to grab a portion of the river. Last year, local AL leaders and other influential people filled up portions of the river in two places near Banaripara Bazar to build a market and the local office of the ruling party.
On August 3, then local lawmaker Manirul Islam Mani laid the founda-
tion stone for the upazila Awami League office.
The mayor of Banaripara had welcomed the lawmaker amid festivity and was present on the occasion, locals said.
Locals said before filling up the river for the office, some local political leaders fenced off around 5,000 square feet more of the river. Later, they filled up the land and sold it to local traders at the rate of Tk 50,000 a decimal, traders said requesting anonymity.
That filled up land has now turned into a buzzing market.
The UNO did not take any action even after being told what was going
on. His office is just 500 metres from the spot.
The Sandhya connects the Kacha river in Kaokhali to the Kirtankhola in Barisal. It is important to the lives and livelihoods of the locals and filling it up at Banaripara is causing erosion in the villages on the other side, locals said.
Filling up a river is also illegal under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1996 (amendment 2010).
The mobile phone of former AL MP Manirul Islam Mani had apparently been turned off. The Daily Star failed to reach him even after trying for over several days.