Squatters occupy Pakshi railway quarters

Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :

Most of the railway residential quarters and vacant land in Ishwardi and Pakshi are occupied by illegal squatters. At various times, the influential people of the ruling political party occupied these lands using the signboards of various institutions. Small and big buildings, shops and hotels have been constructed on these lands. Also, from slums to political offices have been built on the railway land.
Hundreds of railway quarters are occupied in Ishwardi and Pakshi. The number of occupied quarters is 990. Out of this 758 in Pakshi and 232 in Ishwardi. Hundreds of railway quarters in Ishwardi and Pakshi have been lying vacant for a long time under the umbrella of local influencers. A class of people have been illegally occupying these quarters for a long time under the umbrella of local influential people. It is alleged that some of them collect regular rent from them. However, no one is willing to open their mouths about who rented the quarters or how much rent they have to pay. The local railway administration is not taking any action to recover these lands.
According to the sources of Pakshi Railway Land Property Office, at different times, the influential people have lost 14 acres of land in Pakshi and 78.91 acres of railway land in Ishwardi. The amount of vacant land is increasing day by day. Common people think that the headache of the railway concerned is less in these land recovery operations. Many times Pakshi launched operations to recover vacant land from the Divisional Land Office, but it was stopped at the request of some. A few shops and lands were recovered in various raids, but they were left vacant again.
Although there is a rule to leave 10 feet space on both sides of the railway line, structures have been built along the railway line in Ishwardi and Pakshi.
Occupiers are building and selling half-baked shops on railway land. However, in the Railway Act, it is mentioned that the class of leased property cannot be changed and semi-finished or finished buildings cannot be constructed. The railway officials said that the encroachers are making huge amount of money from the railway land with the help of some corrupt officials of the concerned department.
Abdur Rahim, Land Property Officer of Pakshi Divisional Office of Western Railway, said that not only Ishwardi-Pakshi, but the process to recover illegally occupied land in all parts of Western Railway should be carried out. Due to influential and political reasons, there are problems in retrieving some of the encroached lands and structures. But we are working on this too. These lands will be recovered gradually.
Pakshi Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) said that most of the railway residential quarters are uninhabitable due to lack of renovation. Occupiers live in these quarters, but some have musclemen behind them. 45% of salary is deducted as house rent. Many good private houses are available in Ishwardi and Pakshi for less than the amount that will be deducted. He expressed the opinion that there is a need to change the mindset of the influential people along with reforming the policy regarding deduction of house rent of government officials and employees in Mafswal area and formulating new policy regarding lease.