Awami League MP Tahzeeb Siddique’s firm on Dhaleshwari River encroachers’ list

A firm owned by Tahzeeb Alam Siddique MP of the Awami League has been named in a survey on organisations and individuals found to have encroached on the Dhaleshwari River in Manikganj’s Singair.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Feb 2019, 11:02 PM
Updated : 18 Feb 2019, 11:19 PM

The ruling party MP from Jhenaidah-2 is Managing Director of Manikganj Power Generations Limited, a plant built after filling up the river.

Tahzeeb, son of former Bangladesh Chhatra League president Nur-E-Alam Siddique, was an independent MP of the 10th parliament. He was elected on the Awami League’s ticket this time.

The National River Protection Commission or NRPC and the local land office conducted the survey following High Court orders.

Penta Properties Limited and Jagorani Chakra are the two other organisations named in the survey along with 46 individuals.

The Manikganj deputy commissioner and the commission submitted separate reports on the survey to the High Court.

Hearing on the reports was held at the bench of Justice Md Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal on Monday.

Assistant Attorney General Purobi Saha presented the report on behalf of the deputy commissioner. She was assisted by Purobi Rani Sharma. Lawyer Emdadul Haque submitted the NRPC report.

Manzill Murshid stood for the petitioner, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, while Rashna Imam argued for Tahzeeb’s firm.

The court will hear the case again on Feb 25.

According to the deputy commissioner’s report, 19 individuals encroached on around 4 acres of land on the bank of the Dhaleshwari.

They are Kolom Mia, Abed Ali, Shamsul Haque, ‘Bosiron’, Ibrahim Mia, Nomaj Ali, Idris Ali, Asia Khatun, Anwara Begum, Ali Akbar, Shahed Ali, Shamsuddin, Rafiqul Islam, Abdul Ali, Zinnat Ali, Abdul Jalil, Sundor Ali, and Delwar Hossain from Dholla Union in Singair and Ziauddin Ahmed from Dhaka’s Mohammadpur.

Tahzeeb’s Manikganj Power Generations grabbed 11.3 acre of land, according to the report.

The MP did not respond to bdnews24.com calls and text messages for his comments.

The report said the local administration had verbally forbidden Dhaka Northern Power Generations Limited, which is now Manikganj Power Generations Limited, when it had started filling up the river.

The project director was served with a notice on May 3 last year to explain why they had continued filling up the river.

On June 20, the deputy commissioner ordered the company to restore the site to its earlier state.

As the company disobeyed, six days later, the NRPC ordered the deputy commissioner to cancel its land documents and demolish the structures within seven days.

The Manikganj Power Generations won High Court orders in its favour after challenging the deputy commissioner’s eviction notice.

The state appealed against the orders and the High Court later ruled that there cannot be any legal bar on dismantling of illegal structures constructed by encroaching upon the river.

But the district authorities are yet to remove the Manikganj Power Generations structures.

The land grabbed by the firm is enlisted as Dhleshwari river land, according to the NRPC report. The registration of the land was illegal, the commission said.

The High Court ordered the surveys after hearing a writ petition filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

In the writ petition, the organisation attached a report of the Daily Bonik Barta that said Doreen Power Generations and Systems Limited had grabbed the Dhaleshwari land.

Tahzeeb is also Managing Director of Doreen Power, of which Manikganj Power is a subsidiary.

After hearing the writ petition, the High Court on Oct 23 issued a set of rules asking the authorities why the respondents will not be ordered to remove the illegal structures o the Dhaleshwari River land.

It also asked why the respondents’ inaction in stopping Doreen Power from grabbing the Dhaleshwari land will not be declared illegal.

It ordered the deputy commissioner and the NRPC to identify the encroachers and submit the reports.

Manzill Murshid told bdnews24.com that the land was registered as a shoal leased for farming only.

The power plant authorities grabbed the land from the farmers by violating the condition that the land cannot be used for any purpose other than farming, he said.

The Land Record and Survey Department later hurriedly recorded the land under an individual’s name despite forbiddance of the DC, the lawyer claimed.

The Power Division gave Doreen Power the permission to build the furnace oil-based plant in 2017 under the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act of 2010.