Grabbed Railway lands must be recovered following court order

In a very welcome development, the High Court asked the secretary of railways ministry and director general of Bangladesh Railway to give details of how much land of the Bangladesh Railway has been grabbed by grabbers across the country. The court also wanted to know the list of people who have grabbed the land belonging to the Bangladesh Railway within 30 days.

Responding to a writ petition filed by Human Right and Peace for Bangladesh, a bench comprising Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order. That the order could prove very crucial in recovering the railways lands can hardly be overemphasised. A strong position of the court can help the state to recover its valuable railways assets.

No, it is not the common people who gobble up government’s properties. The influential people with political links specially the party in government grab government properties and the Railway is also no exception. It is alleged that these people manage the relevant government offices and use the grabbed land as their own. That is why it could not be possible in the past to evict these people and recover the occupied lands. It took a hard time for the relevant authorities to recover river banks and canals in Dhaka.

In this connection, the case of northern Saidpur, a railway town where the country’s largest workshop is situated, can be cited as an example. Much of this town including some portions of the town’s large bazaar areas belong to the Bangladesh Railway. In the past, several times the Railway authorities tried to evict people from the grabbed land and each time the attempt was unsuccessful. It is worth mentioning that if the grabbed lands are recovered and put to use productively, the Railway can be hugely benefited.

While passing the order the court has rightly asked the government and the director general of the Bangladesh Railway to give an explanation as to why they did not take any action in freeing the Bangladesh Railway land from the grabbers. Though Bangladesh Railway remains a losing concern for the government despite huge demand for train tickets, the fact is 2,692 acres of land of the Bangladesh Railway are now occupied by the grabbers.