Eviction drive begins to free canal in Kalapara

Eviction drive begins to free canal in Kalapara

Patuakhali: The eviction of illegal structures from both banks of the only canal of Kalapara Municipality in Patuakhali has begun. On Thursday morning, the eviction drive was jointly started from Eatimkhana Calvert and Rahmatpur parts of the municipality under the leadership of Kalapara UNO Kausar Hamid and AC LAND Yasin Sadek.

Earlier, in February, after several media outlets published news under the headline 'The only canal of the municipality is in crisis due to encroachment and pollution', the upazila administration started removing garbage from the canal in the first phase. And the land recovery drive on both banks of the encroached canal has started from today.

Meanwhile, environmental activists and residents of the municipality are happy that the eviction drive from the banks of the canal has started after a long time. However, many people have questions about the final demolition of the structures erected by the wealthy on the land along the canal. Because even though they were on the list before, for some mysterious reason they were not demolished.

Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Yasin Sadek said that the demolition drive has been started with the help of the upazila administration after preparing a list of the municipality's government canal encroachments. This drive will continue

Kalapara UNO Kausar Hamid said that all illegal structures, including 78 identified in this canal flowing within the municipality, will be demolished. After the removal of the structures, the canal excavation will begin as per the government instructions. A proposal for this is awaiting approval. - Gofran Palash