Illegal grabbers occupy railway quarters, land in Ishwardi

Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :

More than 85 percent of railway residential quarters and vacant land in Ishwardi, the largest Pakshi division of Western Railway, is occupied by illegal squatters. This includes 396 units that were declared abandoned about ten years ago due to lack of renovation for a long time. Many other quarters have already become uninhabitable. The officers and employees working in the railway are staying elsewhere. Bangladesh Railway is deprived of receiving money from house rent deduction.
According to a report of Pakshi Divisional Railway Office, Ishwardi, an important railway town, has 342 railway residential buildings. The total number of units in these buildings is 1 thousand 212. More than 85 percent of the units are occupied by illegal occupants. Even in units declared abandoned, illegal occupants are living at risk. These residential buildings are basically: two and one unit. Most of the low income people are living in these quarters. There are also a large number of non-Bengalis among them. It is alleged that some of them are collecting regular rent from them. However, none of the illegal residents have agreed to open their mouths about who rented these quarters or how much rent they have to pay.
However, the railway authorities say that they are not earning any income from the rental sector as no legal resident is living in these buildings. An illegal resident said, earlier my father used to work in the railways. I am here since birth and so living still. There are many people in these houses whose fathers and grandfathers used to work in the railways. Since then, many have been living there as a legacy. Their descends have been occupying the vacant land in front and back of the quarter without the permission of the railway authorities and constructing semi-paka houses. Sometimes these quarters change hands. It is said that the transaction happens between 50 thousand to one lakh taka while changing hands. Many have also taken electricity connection in these quarters. Illegal residents enjoy all the facilities of the municipal area but do not pay holding tax.
There was a lot of vacant land around the railway residential quarter of Ishwardi. People are living illegally in these places by building houses voluntarily. Occupiers of vacant land often sell at 50-60 thousand rupees per plot, but there is no one to look. But by leasing these spaces to the occupiers, the railways can earn a huge amount of revenue every year. When the concerned railway department was contacted in this regard, none of them agreed to speak publicly. They said the office has nothing to do with land and quarter occupation or change of hands.
Railway Pakshi Division Engineer-2 Birbal Mandal said regarding the repair and renovation of residential buildings, the abandoned buildings for now: Railways has no plans for renovation. However, the matter is under the notice of higher authorities. If any new plan is adopted in the future, action will be taken. Regarding the eviction of illegal occupants, he said that eviction operations are underway in various places. Evacuation operations require money and manpower. Elections ahead, so for now: the eviction drive is off. Moreover, due to limited manpower and financial allocation, it is not possible to carry out evacuation operations on a large scale in this largest department.