Influential people have reoccupied most of the railway land in Nilphamari's Saidpur municipality and started building structures on it again with the alleged support of a section of local political leaders. The land was recovered in an eviction drive by the railway department about 13 months ago.

Railway sources said the West Zone authorities led by Mushtaq Ahmed, divisional estate officer of Bangladesh Railway (BR) in Pakshey, launched a massive eviction drive against illegal occupants in Saidpur on March 18 and 19 last year.

Monwarul Islam, sub assistant estate officer (kanungo) in Saidpur, said the eviction team, in the face of strong opposition from the occupants, successfully demolished 250 illegal shops, business centres and houses from areas surrounding the Saidpur rail station. A number of policemen were seriously injured as the occupants attacked the eviction team with stones and sticks.

In that drive, the team recovered five acres of occupied land and handed it over to local rail officials, directing them to encircle the area with barbed wire fencing, he added.

The local rail authorities fenced some land in front of the rail station, but other areas remained open due to a shortage of funds, making them vulnerable to occupation.

During the eviction drive, the railway department filed cases with Saidpur Police Station against 75 illegal occupiers, but the law enforcers did not take any action.

Taking advantage of that, influential quarters have reoccupied the land beside the cantonment road and started constructing brick-built markets and renting them.

The situation is the same on both sides of the rail tracks, stretching about a kilometre from the rail station up to Baniapara village.

During a visit to the reoccupied railway land on cantonment road yesterday,

this correspondent found that dozens of rickshaw garages, bicycle shops, spare parts shops, and tea stalls have been set up there.

A rickshaw garage owner said they were tenants and had to pay high rent for each shop to the influential occupiers.

Contacted, Towhidul Islam, in-charge of works (IW) of the railway engineering department in Saidpur, who was also given charge of looking after the recovered land, said an influential lawmaker directed him verbally not to obstruct the occupation. "I'm helpless but I have informed the higher authorities about the matter," he added.

Mushtaq Ahmed said his department is likely to launch more eviction drives soon in Saidpur to recover the occupied land again.

"Saidpur municipality itself is occupying 25.50 acres of railway land and allowing occupiers to construct high-rise buildings and markets, and a case is running in the high court in this regard to recover it," he added.

The railway department claims that it has a total of 799 acres of land in Saidpur upazila, where the country's largest railway workshop is situated, of which 220 acres are illegally occupied and used as agricultural land, commercial plots or ponds.