#Title

MUNSHIGANJ RIVERS

Top grabber let OFF THE HOOK
SAJJAD HOSSAIN
Two years after labelling a shipping company as the district’s top river grabber, Munshiganj district administration has taken a U-turn on that revelation.
On May 6, 2019, the administration declared that Three Angle Marine Ltd was responsible for grabbing parts of Meghna and Fuldi rivers in Munshiganj’s Gazaria upazila.
But now, the same administration is saying that the company has neither grabbed rivers nor filled up any canal, but is only responsible for grabbing a little bit of farmland.
Such backtracking of the government body has drawn widespread criticism from citizens and environmentalists, who labelled this a strategy to protect the company’s interest.
In a circular published in 2019, the district administration said the company occupied 4.31 acres of low-lying lands and canals and almost one acre along Fuldi and Meghna in Nayanagar Mouza, drawing media attention.
Following news reports of various media outlets, National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) directed the administration to investigate the matter.
Later in September last year, the administration asked Gazaria UNO Ziaul Islam Chowdhury to start the investigation. Across September and October, a probe body led by the UNO conducted the inquiry.
The report was submitted to the office of the district’s deputy commissioner (DC). Subsequently on October 20, DC Kazi Nahid Rasul forwarded the report to NRCC.
The Daily Star obtained a copy of the probe report, which said the information stated in the 2019 circular regarding river-grabbing by the shipping company was “untrue”.
Though the company has illegally occupied around 34 acres of land to set up its factory, it was not involved in river grabbing, the probe report said. The probe body talked to several villagers during the investigation.
However, talking to The Daily Star, locals said the company has occupied around 60 acres of land belonging to around 120 farmers, and grabbed a portion of Meghna and Fuldi rivers.
Besides, the company has also filled up two canals, Kumira and Borocharal, they said, adding that ever since its construction work began at the upazila’s Nayanagar in 2010, it has been continuously gabbing riverbanks.
Meanwhile, villagers have claimed that the probe report is riddled with irregularities.
Mir Md Ferdous, a resident of Nayanagar village, who filed a petition with the High Court in 2020, seeking government measures to end the river grabbing, was one of the locals who was interviewed by the probe committee.
In the report, the probe body said it asked Ferdous to place his written statement before it, but Ferdous did not do so.
However, when contacted, Ferdous denied the claim and said, “I had given a written statement before the High Court when I filed the petition. I requested the probe body to attach that statement. But it did not do it.”
Another villager, Akhter Hossain, said although he talked with the UNO on September 14, when he tried to place his written statement several times later on, the UNO did not receive it.
Gazaria union parishad chair Md Abu Taleb Bhuiyan, who also faced the probe body, said, “The probe report is faulty. We want impartial investigation.”
Gazaria upazila parishad chairman Amirul Islam has alleged that the company has influenced the administration with “underhanded dealings”.
Contacted, Gazaria UNO Ziaul Islam Chowdhury said the investigation was done following the guidelines. “We have found that neither any river nor canal has been grabbed,” he said.
Contacted, Munshiganj DC Kazi Nahid Rasul echoed the UNO and said, “I think the probe report is alright, because the investigation was conducted following proper rules.”