Fatal Karwan Bazar accident shakes railway awake

Railway authorities have conducted a drive at Dhaka's Karwan Bazar, evicting illegal shanties and shops along rail tracks, a day after a train accident killed four people there.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police took part in the drive that started at 10am on Friday along with rail police and railway's security force. The drive ended around 2pm.

Railway's Dhaka divisional Estate Officer Nurunnabi Kabir said their eviction drive ended without any unpleasant incidents.

He had said earlier that the drive would cover the area from the Karwan Bazar's BFDC gate crossing to the Tejgaon Railway Station.

bdnews24.com correspondent found that shanties and shops for 200 yards starting from BFDC gate were demolished. About 500 yards from there a few more shanties west of the Tejgaon crossing had also been demolished.

But the place in the middle remains untouched. Asked why these shanties had not been torn down, Kabir said they were prevented from doing so by a court order.

Replying to a question, he said Thursday's accident in the area turned their attention to the illegal establishments.

"That's why we're conducting the eviction drive today," Kabir said.

Railway officials say illegal makeshift shops are set up on Karwan Bazar tracks daily.

On Tuesday, four people were killed and several others wounded after a crowd was caught up between two trains at Karwan Bazar.

Railway accidents have killed over 200 people in Dhaka in the last nine months, according to the railway authorities.

Kabir said they had detained many illegal shopkeepers before but were released after they were made to sign a bond promising they would not set up shops on or along the rail tracks.

"But they reopen their shops after getting released," he explained.

Tejgaon police OC Mazharul Islam, who was at the spot, claimed the illegal shanties had long been the centre of criminal activities.

He believes the removal of the slums would eliminate drug trade and put an end to deaths caused by train accidents.

These illegal establishments could not be removed due to "various reasons", he said, blaming the railway authorities for the delay.

Kamalapur Railway Station police's OC Abdul Majid, "The railway authorities did not show interest despite being told."

‘We pay rent to Siraj Commander’

The drive came as a bolt from the blue for those who had shops and houses along the rail tracks.

Billal Hossain, who owned a garage near the Karwan Bazar rail-crossing, said, "They started tearing my shop down with bulldozers without warning. There were two microbuses in my shop, they've been destroyed."

Asked why he was running his business in an illegal shop on the railway property, he said, "We regularly pay rents to Siraj Commander."

He said Siraj Commander lived in a shanty nearby but it was found locked from the outside when this correspondent went there. The man’s home stands in the court order-protected zone.

Another slum resident, ‘Sabuj’, said Siraj Commander was a railway employee and he collected rent for local politicians.

Railway officer Kabir said he, too, had heard of the Commander's name but was not sure who he was.

"We are investigating whether he is a railway employee," he said.

‘Shefayet’, Jaglu Miah and Keramat Ali have sold fish on the railway tracks for years. They said they were present during Thursday’s accident but were saved by fate.

“We pay Tk 100 every day to Siraj Commander,” Jaglu Miah said.