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May
16, 2000
Natore,
May 15 (UNB) – Over 18,000 acres of land, owned by Bangladesh
Railway’s western zone, have been occupied by influential quarters.
According
to a survey conducted by the Railway’s Estate Division in 1991-92,
the zone once had 37,705 acres of land, which now reduced to 1,940
acres.
The
present value of the railway’s lost land was said to be Tk 1,500
crore.
The
survey showed that the railway’s moveable property worth about Tk 2
crore were pilfered from its workshop at Sankhashi n Nilphamari at
different times.
Besides,
some 16,310 acres of land in Rajshahi, Iswardi, Chapainawabganj,
Santahar, Parbotipur, Bogra and Lalmonirhat have been grabbed by local
influential quarters.
The
railway authorities also have some 705 acres of land, which have been
occupied by various government and semi-government agencies.
Official
sources said construction materials of a residential project taken up
1963 on over 277.50 acres of land here were also stolen after the
project was abandoned halfway for lack of fund.
The
authorities of the zone, however, filed 292 cases with different
courts to recover the occupied lands, but there has been no tangible
progress in this regard due to reluctance of the railway’s legal
advisors.
According
to another source, a good number of
wagons, passenger coaches and railway engines are lying unused
in Iswardi, Shantahar, Bogra, Kurigram, Lalmonorhat, Saidpur,
Parbotipur, Pakshey and Sirajganj.
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