Dhaka, Jan 26 (bdnews24.com) — Agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury has branded the country's top apparel exporters association BGMEA as "land-grabber" and a section of its leaders as "educated criminals".
"BGMEA has erected a building in the centre of Hatirjheel," she said on Tuesday, referring to what was once a major water body of the capital that is now undergoing regeneration in a major development project.
"Now they are advocating protection of environment," said Matia.
"Those who commit crimes but presume to advise others are nothing but educated criminals," she said.
She said the indiscriminate encroachment of open spaces had created water-logging in Dhaka city to an alarming point.
There are allegations that Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) built its headquarters, BGMEA Bhaban, by illegally grabbing the land at Hatirjheel.
City development authority Rajuk is implementing a Tk 1,480 crore (Tk 14.8 billion) Hatirjheel-Begunbari integrated development project there aimed to preserve rainwater, maintain natural drainage and eliminate water logging in the city, as well as ease traffic gridlock by creating another east-west route in the city.
The incumbent Awami League-led government announced immediately after assuming office in early 2009 that all illegal structures in Dhaka city would be dismantled and the rivers circling the city recovered from encroachers.
But housing and public works minister Abdul Mannan Khan in June last year said the project would be completed leaving the BGMEA building intact.
'LIFT HOUSE'
Matia was speaking at the inauguration of a pilot project of an innovative 'floating house', called the Lift House, at the House Building Research Institute at Mirpur in the city on Tuesday.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith inaugurated the house, designed by Prithula Prasun, a student of Canada's Waterloo University.
The state minister for housing, speaking on the occasion, urged real estate developers build innovative housing for the poor.
"You are not just there to serve for the rich and middle-income people. You have to come forward to build houses for the poor," he said.
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