District administration of Dhaka on Thursday bulldozed eight structures, including a four-storey building, during a drive to recover 10 acres of government land on the city's outskirt Savar which had been illegally grabbed by controversial Hall-Mark Group.
Equipped with two bulldozers, many shovels and other materials, a large number of workers in support with a huge contingent of forces from Savar police station and Industrial Police demolished the structures from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
At least 20 factories and storehouses were housed in those eight structures in the grabbed land at Nandakhali in Savar. Dhaka District Executive Magistrate Selim Hossain led the drive in presence of Savar Upazila authorities.
Witnesses said seven among the eight were tin-shed structures and the rest was a four-storey building. All the seven tin-shed structures were already been demolished and the four-storey building was demolished partially as the equipment was not capable to demolish it completely.
During the demolition, hundreds of curious people thronged Nandakhali to witness the recovery drive.
Kabir Hossain Sarder, Upazila Nirbahi officer (UNO) of Savar, told The Daily Star that the structures were built in a piece of 1 acre and 65 decimals of land while the rest of the land was occupied by many ways.
“We conducted the drive to recover the government land by evicting the illegal occupiers,” the Savar UNO said.
Earlier in last November, a Dhaka court directed to recover the government land which was grabbed by Hall-Mark Group Chairman Tanvir Mahmud, the alleged kingpin among the persons responsible for the Sonali Bank loan scam.
Tanvir and many of Hall-Mark officials are now in jail in connection with the much-tacked-about Sonali Bank loan scam.
Savar UNO said, “The Hall-Mark Group had grabbed some 10 acres of government land for years.”
Source:The Daily Star
