Construction of buildings on Zilla Parishad land, canal violating lease terms in Kalukhali alleged
Moynul Haque Mridha, Rajbari
Nasirul Islam, an Eksana leaseholder, has illegally occupied the official land of the district council and a water canal along the Belgachi-Ramdia road adjacent to Gandhimara Bazar in Madapur Union of Kalukhali Upazila of Rajbari district and constructed a multi-storey building in violation of the lease terms.
For the past two months, the locals have not received any redress despite submitting written applications to various departments including the District Council. Finally, the locals have submitted a written application to the District Commissioner and the District Council Administrator on Monday (May 19) to stop the construction of buildings on the official land of the District Council and on the water canal.
Nasirul Islam Babu, the sole leaseholder from the Zilla Parishad, is the son of Nazar Ali Sheikh of Bri-Gopalpur village in Madapur Union.
The petition of the locals mentioned that there is a very old canal for drainage of water on the side of Belgachi-Ramdia road adjacent to Gandhimara Bazar in Madapur Union of Kalukhali Upazila. Water from the fields of about 5/6 villages passes through this canal. A person named Nasirul Islam Babu has cut soil from inside the canal with a shovel and constructed a building with RCC pillars. This is stopping the movement of water and causing waterlogging and will cause serious damage to agricultural crops. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the construction of buildings on the canal on an urgent basis and keep the canal operational.
Traders of Gandhimara Bazaar said that a public toilet was set up next to the canal with the funding of the Madapur Union Parishad. The traders of the market used to meet their needs there every day. Suddenly, Nasirul Islam Babu is occupying the government land adjacent to the canal, along with the land he leased, and completely demolishing the public toilet and constructing a multi-storey building there. The roof of the second floor of the building has already been completed. Currently, the traders of the market are facing many problems due to the lack of a public toilet. Even after the locals informed the higher officials in writing about this, the work is still going on for mysterious reasons. We want the construction of buildings on government land to be stopped as soon as possible.
Local sources also reported that Nasirul Islam, in collusion with District Council surveyor Shah Imran, is illegally constructing a multi-storey building on District Council land, violating the terms of the lease.
Earlier, on 16/4/2025, Damukdia villagers and Gandhimara market traders had applied to the Rajbari District Council Executive Officer and Kalukhali Upazila Executive Officer demanding a halt to illegal building construction on government land, but they did not receive any redress.
Rajbari District Council Assistant Engineer Md. Ashrafuzzaman said, "We inspected the site last Wednesday based on allegations of illegal construction of buildings on government land in violation of the lease terms. Necessary action will be taken in this regard."
Rajbari District Council Chief Executive Officer (Acting) Md. Mazharul Islam said, "We visited the scene after receiving the complaint. Nasirul Haque had taken a lease of the place from the District Council for a one-time settlement (one year). There was a condition that he could not carry out construction work on the leased place. We have warned him about this. If he constructs a pucca building on that place, necessary action will be taken."
Nasirul Haque was called several times on his mobile phone to get his statement on the matter, but he did not answer the phone.
