The railway authorities today knocked down at least 300 illegal shops along railway tracks stretching from Tejgaon to Mohakhali in Dhaka.
The shops were demolished during the four-hour drive from 9:00am.
The authorities today did not send any bulldozer following yesterday’s clash between law enforcers and slum dwellers in Moghbazar area, said Abdul Majid, officer-in-charge of Dhaka Railway Police Station.
During yesterday’s drive several hundred people, many with sticks, chased the members of the drive team after a quarrel over removal of a shanty close to the rail track. They threw brickbats at the law enforcers. Policemen then baton charged the slum dwellers leaving five with minor injuries.
Around 700 illegal shacks, including shops, were demolished yesterday.
A team of 70 to 80 members assigned by the authorities carried out the eviction drive today, the OC added.
The ongoing drive began on Friday after a train ploughed into a crowd at Karwan Bazar rail tracks on Thursday. Four people were killed and five injured in the accident.
Source: The Daily Star
