Published : 16 Aug 2026, 08:46 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:33 AM
The High Court has ordered a survey of the boundaries of Kaptai Lake in Rangamati and a list of the owners of illegal structures inside the boundaries, along with their names and addresses.
The deputy commissioner of Rangamati and the director general of the Land Record and Survey Department have been directed to jointly complete the survey and submit the report within the next four months.
A High Court bench comprising Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan gave the order on Tuesday.
The court set Jan 6 as the date for submission of the report and further orders.
Senior lawyer Manzil Murshid represented the petitioner in court.
After the order, Murshid told bdnews24.com that although Kaptai Lake was created to set up a power plant, many people are currently “illegally occupying the lake area and causing pollution”.
He said, “A supplementary application was filed last Thursday regarding the eviction of illegal encroachments on Kaptai Lake. Although previous eviction orders were issued, many claimed that they were not encroaching and that their structures could be place there.”
The lawyer stressed the need for a boundary survey to identify the encroaching structures before conducting the eviction drive.
He said, “Since the eviction drive has started, many illegal encroachments are currently claiming to be the owners of land, saying that is why they cannot be evicted. It is very important to conduct a boundary survey to identify the real encroachments.”
Murshid also explained the reason for the earlier complications in determining the boundaries of Kaptai Lake. He said that it was not possible to conduct a survey before this as the district administration did not have the records related to the boundaries at the time of the lake’s construction. That is why the Survey Department has now been given the responsibility of conducting the survey alongside the district administration.
On Oct 17, 2022, after hearing a petition filed by the human rights and environmental organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), the High Court issued a rule to evict the illegal encroachers of Kaptai Lake and ordered a survey.
Later, when the eviction process began as per the court's instructions, the need for a boundary survey arose to identify the illegal occupants.
The deputy commissioner of Rangamati was ordered to conduct a survey and submit a report, but the district administration informed the need for the Survey Department’s involvment.
In view of this, an application was made by HRPB to the deputy commissioner of rangamati and the director general of the Survey Department seeking instructions to conduct a boundary survey according to the map of Kaptai Lake and for the submission of a list of illegal encroachers.
