High Court orders full probe into illegal structures on Turag River

The High Court has ordered an investigation to find out whether there are any illegally constructed structures on the Turag River near Kamarparha Bridge after the two eviction drives.

The bench of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Mohammad Ullah gave the order after hearing a petition from a human rights group on Thursday.

The Gazipur chief judicial magistrate has been ordered to complete the investigation and submit a report by Mar 1. If the chief judicial magistrate is unable to submit the report, the senior judicial magistrate or other top official has been told to do so.

The investigator was asked to determine whether the constructions previously deemed illegal by a delimitation survey have been completely removed.

The court also ordered the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) chairman, the Gazipur deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police to cooperate with the investigation.

Advocate Monzil Morshed moved the petition in the court. Advocate Syed Mafizur Rahman represented BIWTA at the hearing.

“The BIWTA submitted a report that only included the investigation until Nov 27 of last year,” Morshed told reporters after the hearing. “The court ordered BIWTA to submit a full report.”

“The BIWTA provided a detailed investigation report that mentions the demolition of nine illegal structures. We have admissible evidence that there are more illegal structures on the river’s banks and petitioned for a full report. The court has accepted our request and ordered the investigators to follow through.”

On Nov 6, an English newspaper published an article on the structures that had been constructed by filling up parts of the Turag River.

The article spurred the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh President Advocate Morshed to file the writ petition.

On Nov 9, the court ordered the BIWTA chairman, WAPDA and director general of the Department of Environment, Gazipur deputy commissioner and superintendent of police and the OCs of Tongi and Turag police stations to halt all filling, settlement and construction on the Turag River within 48 hours.

The deputy commissioner was also ordered to make a complete list of all involved in the river-filling.

The court also issued a rule asking why the administration’s inaction regarding the filling of the river would not be considered illegal.

The rule also asked why legal action would not be taken against those who had filled the river and occupied the land illegally and why the evicted should not pay for their own evictions.