The railway authorities evicted around 267 illegal business establishments, including two Awami League party offices, from Tejgaon railway station area to Nakhalpara in the capital yesterday.
“We have a list of 17 illegal markets from Narayanganj to Tongi, each of which contains at least 400 shops. The eviction will begin from Banani tomorrow (today),” Railway’s Dhaka Divisional Estate Officer Nurunnabi Kabir told the Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladesh Railway Nirapotta Bahini (RNB)’s Chief Inspector Shahid Ullah told the Dhaka Tribune that the eviction drive continued from around 10am to 12:30pm yesterday. Around RNB officials took part in the drive.
As well as the RNB officials, around 30 daylabourers took part in the eviction.
Two day labourers named Sayeed Hossain and Md Shohagh said they had been working for four days. They were being paid Tk 150-400 depending on work.
Abdul Mazid, Officer-in-Charge of Kamlapur Railway police station, said there were no people at the two Awami League offices during the drive. Some protests were made by shop owners, but the shops were torn down in the end.
He told the Dhaka Tribune that around 150 police officials were taking part in the eviction drive.
Some shops owners however set up their shops immediately after the eviction drive team had gone away.
A shop owner called Abdul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune: I have set my shop again. Otherwise, it would have been a huge loss for me.”
The authorities started the drive on Friday morning after four people were killed when a train rammed into an illegal fish market set up on railway lines at the capital’s Karwan Bazar on Thursday. Five others were seriously injured in the accident.
