Bablu Ranjan Biswas, Kushtia :: A complaint has been received that a multi-storey building named HC Shopping Complex is being constructed by encroaching on roads and public roads in Mirpur Bazar (Eagle Chattar) of Kushtia. The work on the first floor of the building, which is under construction in a hurry, is almost complete. However, without taking any approval from Mirpur Municipality, the owner of the land grabber Seba Pharmacy, Zianul Haque Khan Bablu Chowdhury, is continuing the work on the building by force of power.
As a result, the work on the adjacent road of a beautiful bridge over the GK Main Canal of Mirpur Bazar, funded by the Roads and Public Roads Department, at a cost of about 22 crore taka, will be disrupted, and the normal movement of the public and the traders of the market are facing extreme difficulties. Recently, Mirpur Upazila Executive Officer and Municipal Administrator Nazmul Islam came to the ground to see the reality of these complaints.
At that time, the owner of the building under construction, Bablu Chowdhury, said that this is my property under the document, so I am constructing the building. In response, UNO Nazmul Islam said that why are they digging up roads and highways here and constructing buildings? Then, the opportunist Bablu Chowdhury, supported by the Awami League, said that during the previous government, I was subjected to many tortures and roads were built by forcibly occupying my land.
At one point, the UNO asked to meet him at his office and since then, for unknown reasons, the municipal administrator, Nazmul Islam, has not taken any further action. An unconfirmed source has learned that Muhammad Manjurul Karim, the executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, Kushtia, is a relative of the land grabber Bablu Chowdhury, and therefore he (Bablu) is continuing this misdeed without any regard for anyone.
It has been found that there is a market named Beauty Super next to the controversial building, owned by Bablu Chowdhury and his family members, behind which is his luxurious house. The house and most of the Beauty Super Market have been occupying government land for a long time, and they have been earning crores of taka by renting it out to live and build a market, but they do not pay any tax to the railways. The Beauty Super Market under construction on the railway site has 60/70 shops, taking lakhs of taka as security from each shopkeeper and collecting rent of over lakhs of taka every month. A trader in the market, on condition of anonymity, said that for almost 40 years, Bablu Chowdhury and his late father Huma Chowdhury have been occupying government land by exerting influence and earning crores of taka. Proof of this can be found by searching the accounts of him and his family members in various banks. On the one hand, there is illegal occupation of government land and on the other hand, there is huge tax evasion by the government.
When I spoke to Zakir Hossain, Additional Chief Engineer of Roads and Highways Khulna Divisional Zone, he said that legal action will be taken if anyone does anything that disrupts the design of the bridge and public movement. On the other hand, when I spoke to Mirpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Municipal Administrator Nazmul Islam on the phone, he said that in the wake of various complaints, I went to the land and they are claiming that the place is their property. I told the concerned people of the municipality to look into the matter, necessary action will be taken if the government land is occupied. When I spoke to Bablu Chowdhury in this regard, he denied all the allegations and said that the building is being built on the property of the documents obtained through ancestral sources, but he avoided answering the question of tax evasion and illegal occupation of government land.
If the concerned authorities do not take immediate action, the business of small traders in the market will collapse and the movement of people will be severely disrupted, according to the conscious people of the area
